The Mystical Warriors
by Destiny and Fate 4ever
Summary: COMPLETED book one of seven. Serena and the scouts get new powers that aid in their fight against Beryl.
1. Change is A Good Thing

Hi All - First off thank you for reading this story - this is the first section of a long  
epic by my best friend Fate Chica and myself. This is in fact the first part of the first   
book of seven which we are currently in progress on. I really hope you enjoy this! Some   
people may have already read this from FateChica's fanfic penname, but we're now going to   
continue to post under this name, so bear with us as we slowly update the current four   
books and the new chapters of the fifth! Thanks for reading and hope you like our story!  
  
~ Destiny Babe  
  
*Sailor Moon is the property of Naoko Takeuchi - we, however, claim the story plot as ours.  
You must ask permission if you want to post any of this anywhere else. Thank you*  
The Mystical Warriors, Part 1  
***Change Is A Good Thing***  
  
Serena, aka Sailor Moon, stood her ground against Prince Darien. Behind her were her were   
the other scouts: Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Mercury, and Sailor Venus. "Give me   
the Silver Crystal," Prince Darien roared, a fierce snarl on his face. He had his orders:   
retrieve the Silver Crystal and kill the Sailor Scouts.  
  
"If you think I'm going to give it to you, then you need help," Sailor Moon cried.  
  
"Give it to me, or your friends will get it." Without warning, he launched black lightning   
at the unsuspecting scouts, purposely avoiding Serena. He wanted to weaken her, blackmail   
her into giving him the Silver Crystal. Serena's eyes filled with tears as she heard their   
cries of pain before they slumped to the ground, unconscious. It hurt her that she couldn't   
do anything to protect them. Maybe she was a bad warrior. She didn't deserve to have the   
Silver Crystal. But, she would do anything to keep it from Darien at the moment, hurting   
him if she had to, as much as she didn't want to. Torn between protecting her friends and   
not hurting Darien, Serena clenched her eyes shut and brought her hand into a fist as she   
thought of the chain of events that had led to this battle.  
*Flashback*  
  
"So," Serena said to her four friends: Raye, Lita, Ami, and Mina, "What do you want to do   
today?" All 5 of them leaned their elbows on the tabletop of the picnic table they were   
sitting at in the park. Lita sighed, "I really don't know."   
  
"Me neither," said Mina.  
  
"Ditto," chimed Raye and Ami. They all participated in a collective sigh and slumped   
farther into their seats. It was a dull, dreary Saturday afternoon. They had no homework   
and didn't have anything to study for. Even Ami said that she didn't have to study for   
anything at the moment. There were no good movies to see, no new video games at the arcade,   
and they had visited all of the shops in the mall at least a dozen times. They would give   
anything to have something to do. All of the sudden, they heard screams coming from the   
other end of the park and the Sailor Scouts immediately wished for the boredom back. It was   
better than fighting, but, they knew they had to stop the evil. They all looked at each   
other and rushed over to the place of the screams. There is only one thing that could   
produce screams like that, they thought, the Negaverse.   
  
When they arrived at the place where the screams originated, they saw a youma that resembled   
an octopus, a person entangled in each of its legs, with the head of a human instead of the   
head of an octopus. When they looked above and to the right of the youma, they saw Prince   
Darien standing (or rather floating) above the scene. They knew as well as he did that he   
just wanted the Sailor Scouts, not the innocent bystanders, but if it took the help of   
civilians to accomplish his goals, he would gladly use them. Serena, outraged at the scene   
in front of her, called out, "Ok Scouts, Power up!" As if on cue, Raye shouted, "MARS   
POWER!" The rest followed.   
  
"JUPITER POWER!"  
  
"VENUS POWER!"  
  
"MERCURY POWER!"  
  
"MOON PRISM POWER!" Moments later, 5 girls in sailor outfits with tiaras and short skirts   
stood in front of the youma. Prince Darien smirked and shouted, "Octopi, release the   
humans, fight the Sailor Scouts!"  
  
"As you wish, my master," the octopus hissed before shooting out a liquid that looked like   
black ink out of holes in its legs. The Sailor Scouts ducked as the ink flew passed their   
head and hit a tree. The Scouts turned to look at the tree and it looked as if it had been   
burned with acid. Outraged at the damage of nature, Sailor Mars called out "MARS FIRE   
IGNITE!" as a stream of fire poured from her hand, burning the creature. The octopus   
screamed in pain, its attention pulled away from the battle for a moment, and Sailor Moon   
took it as her chance to kill the monster. "MOON HEALING ACTIVATION!" she cried out and the   
octopus turned back into a human being. "That wasn't that hard, you Negacreep!" she yelled   
at Prince Darien.  
  
"It wasn't supposed to be hard. It was just a distraction to get you here. Now that you're   
here, why don't you give up and give me the Silver Crystal?"  
  
"NO!" Serena shouted. She would die before giving him the Silver Crystal, evil as he was.   
He lowered himself to the ground, whereupon he stretched out his hand and black lightning   
emanated from him hand to hit all of the Sailor Scouts, but they all stood their ground.  
*End flashback*  
  
Serena's body was trembling with rage against the man that stood in front of her. Her fists   
clenched at her sides with her attempt to restrain her anger. In her right hand was her   
Moon Crescent Wand, which was glowing with her rage. She glared at Prince Darien, the man   
that she loved who was under the influence of the side of evil. She knew she was supposed   
to love him, but all she wanted to do was make him pay for hurting her friends.   
  
As her anger for the man standing in front of her grew, so did the light of the Silver   
Crystal. Eventually, the light was so bright that it was blinding to everybody, even   
Serena. With words she didn't even recognize, she cried out, "Power of the Moonlight!"   
When the light faded, Serena was standing there in what seemed to be a body suit made of   
silver and white. It was mostly white and on the top of the forearms stretching to her   
knuckles was colored silver with the rest of her hands and arms covered in white, like   
gloves. Her legs up to below her knees were silver, and there was a silver belt encircling   
her waist and on her chest was a silver crescent moon, the points facing up.   
  
Although it looked as if it was made of cloth, the light reflecting off of her outfit told   
Prince Darien that is was made of metal, or at least something like it, and the Crescent   
Moon Wand was nowhere in sight. He gaped at the sudden change in Sailor Moon's outfit,   
looking at her from the toe, up. When he got to her face, he saw that her hair was in the   
same style and her eyes glowed with hatred, her breathing heavy and labored. Raising her   
face to look at him, she hissed, "You will pay for that." With those words, she called out,   
"I call upon the armor of the Moonlight! Armor of the Moonlight, TO ARMS!"   
  
Her hands, now down at her sides came up across her chest, a hand at the opposite shoulder.   
Beams of moonlight shot towards her and swirled around her, blowing her hair up into the   
air. The beams of moonlight surrounded her legs, arms and chest, turning into armor. When   
the wind died down, she was standing there in front of a beam of light that had collected in   
front of her and turned into a helmet. With gloved hands, she picked up the helmet and put   
it on, her hair having been perfectly coiled on top of her head from the force of the wind.   
Another beam of light shot down and created a staff, which Serena held in her hands. Her   
right hand closed around the staff and she picked up the staff in and put the tip on the   
ground, leaning slightly on it.   
  
Now that the transformation was complete, Prince Darien got his first good look at her and   
gasped. Her helmet was silver with two white horns coming out of the top. Covering her   
torso was a silver, tunic-like piece of armor, which went no lower than her belt and no   
wider than her shoulders. From her elbow down to her wrist was silver, leaving her upper   
arms white from right above the elbow to right below the shoulder joint. At her wrist was a   
small break in the gloves, then the silver started up again covering the tops of the hands   
with silver, leaving the fingers and the palms of the hands white. From her knees down was   
the same as her sub-armor, only a little more bulky than before and her knees and her thighs   
were white. On the front of her breastplate was a large white crescent moon, the points of   
moon facing up. The staff that she held was silver as well and about 5 and a half feet   
tall. From the base, four pieces of silver metal were twisted up the staff and at the top,   
they separated to hold the Silver Crystal at four points on the crystal, spaced equally   
apart. The points of the silver metal were four small gems that represented the other   
Sailor Scouts in red, green, blue, and orange.   
  
As Darien looked over the new Sailor Moon, he suddenly became very scared, but he couldn't   
move for he was frozen with fear. Standing up straight, she held the staff above the   
ground, the crystal about a foot above her head and called out "MOONLIGHT CRYSTAL…" as   
silver-white light poured into the crystal. She then pointed the crystal at Prince Darien   
and shouted, "ILLUMINATION!" as a beam of light shot out, engulfing him in a white light.   
Normally, the attack hurt evil, but because Prince Darien was only partially evil, it cured   
his body of any negative energy.   
  
As the light died down, Serena slumped to the ground on her knees, not believing what had   
just happened. She looked down at her armor and her staff in shock. It took her a little   
bit to realize that she was trembling. She had never felt so strong before. She could feel   
the power as it coursed through her veins. It felt like she had entered a new state of   
being. She felt like she could do anything. After a few moments of shock, she stood up and   
detransformed from her armor to her sub-armor and from her sub-armor into her regular   
clothes. Remembering about what had just happened, she rushed over to Darien, who was   
laying on the ground unconscious. She turned him over and shook him, calling, "Darien, wake   
up. Come on, wake up." Eventually, he woke up and opened his eyes, looking up at the girl   
above him. Weakly, he raised his hand to her face, relieved to see the face of the woman he   
loved, and said, "Meatball Head?" She nodded and with a sudden surge of strength, he was up   
on his knees and hugging her as hard as he dared, tears streaming down his face. "I'm so   
glad to be back," Darien said, a huge smile breaking out on his face.  
  
"Me, too." Serena said. Separating, they looked at each other and smiled. As they looked   
into each other's eyes, their smiles faded. Darien, incredibly happy to see her, slowly   
leaned in and kissed her. Serena, so incredibly happy that he was back, kissed him back   
with full force. As they broke apart, Darien looked around and said, "Where am I? The last   
that I remember, we were in the Starlight Tower."  
  
"We're in the park."  
  
"Why are we in the park?"  
  
"Because you sent a youma after us."  
  
"Why would I do that?" Darien was aghast. He couldn't believe that he would do anything   
like that.  
  
"Because you were evil. After we found out I was the Moon Princess and I killed Zoicite,   
you were taken by the Negaverse and brainwashed. You became evil and fought us to get the   
Silver Crystal. I just turned you good again."   
  
"I'm so sorry I hurt you like that."  
  
"It wasn't your fault. You were brainwashed," Serena said like it was nothing. Darien was   
about to say something in apology when the Scouts started to wake up. Darien and Serena   
stood up and walked over to them, helping them to wake up. After they had all woken up,   
they detransformed and flooded Serena with questions about what happened and if Darien was   
good again.  
  
"After you guys were knocked unconscious, I used the power of the Silver Crystal to heal   
Darien. The only drawback is that he doesn't remember anything about being Evil Prince   
Darien," Serena said.  
  
"That's all you did. You used the Silver Crystal?" Raye asked. Serena opened her mouth to   
tell them about her new armor and powers, but decided to tell them later. Instead of   
telling them about her new armor, she simply answered Raye's question with, "Yes." Although   
she didn't seem satisfied with the answer and knew that there was something that Serena   
wasn't telling her, Raye let it slide, figuring that she would eventually let the news slip.   
Then, the Sailor Scouts and Darien got up, said their goodbyes, and went home.  
***  
  
It had been a week since Darien had been turned good and Serena had been acting strange.   
She was suddenly starting to take things more seriously. She was on time to school, she had   
done her homework, and she was on time to Scout meetings. No one knew why except for   
Serena. The reason why she had changed was because of her new power. Somehow, she had   
matured when she had gained her new power. The Scouts knew that there was something that   
she wasn't telling them, but she had resisted all of their ploys to get it out of her, so   
they decided to wait for her to tell them.   
  
That evening, a week later, Serena, who was finished with her homework, was staring out her   
window at the stars, just thinking about what had happened to her in the last few days. I   
wonder when I'll be able to tell them about my new power? I really want to tell them, but   
how would I explain? 'Yeah, when you guys got hurt, I suddenly gained this armor and my   
crystal is inside me and appears when I call my armor'? Yeah, that'll go over well. When   
Serena had noticed that her crystal was gone when she got home the first night she had   
gained her armor, she had been terrified and thought that she had lost it. As if to tell   
her not to worry, the crystal appeared out of thin air and when Serena calmed down and   
realized that she still had it, the crystal disappeared again and she felt a surge of power   
flare up inside her. She then realized that the crystal was inside her and could be called   
out when she needed it, like when she transformed.   
  
At first, she wondered why the crystal was inside of her and not outside, like it was in her   
locket, but she figured that if she had been powerful enough to gain the armor, then she was   
powerful enough to hold the crystal inside of her and bring it out of herself when she   
needed it. Suddenly, the communicator sounded and she rushed to pick it up. "Sailor Moon   
here!"   
  
"Serena," Mars called, "Get your butt down here. Malachite is here and he's pissed off. We   
need your help!"  
  
"Ok, I'll be right there." She looked around for Luna, but then realized that she was over   
with Artemis and was probably over at the battle scene. She stood up and called out, "MOON   
PRISM POWER!" and realized (and remembered) that she wasn't able to use her Sailor Moon   
powers and had to use her armor. Then a smile dawned on her face. I won't tell them   
about my new powers, I'll show them. And rushed out of the house, absently telling her   
mother that she was leaving.  
***  
  
At the battle site, the other Sailor Scouts, Tuxedo Mask, Luna, and Artemis were standing in   
front of Malachite. They had tried all of their attacks, but nothing seemed to work.   
Malachite was just too strong for them. What they needed was Sailor Moon. "Where is Sailor   
Moon?" Raye called, anger and panic mixed in her voice.  
  
"What, your little leader too chicken to show up."  
  
"Not on your life Malachite!" said Serena from behind the group. The Scouts, Tuxedo Mask,   
and the cats turned to see Serena, not Sailor Moon, standing behind her. "Is this your   
leader?" Malachite called.  
  
"Serena, why haven't you transformed yet?" Luna and Raye called out. Serena simply ignored   
their complaints at her and calmly (even more calmly than she thought possible) walked   
through the center of the group. Now they were behind her and only Malachite stood in front   
of her, looking at her from a distance of about 5 yards.  
  
"Didn't think I'd show up, Malachite? Or hoping that I wouldn't so I wouldn't kick your   
butt?"  
  
"You helpless girl, you can't possibly do anything to me," Malachite sneered, thinking that   
Serena was only a mortal girl.  
  
"Wanna bet?" All of the sudden, Serena called out, "Power of the Moonlight!" and she   
suddenly stood in her sub-armor. All of the scouts, Darien, and the cats had dropped their   
jaws at the sight of Serena's skintight sub-armor. I wonder where that came from?   
Everyone but Malachite thought.   
  
"Ooh, I'm so scared at your little body suit. You're going to have to do better than that,"   
Malachite said.  
  
"The fun's just started," Serena said before putting her arms to her sides. "I call upon   
the armor of the Moonlight. Armor of the Moonlight, TO ARMS!" In a quick transformation,   
Serena stood there in silver and white armor, holding a staff that was holding the silver   
crystal. The group couldn't have been more amazed. Except for Malachite.   
  
"Cute light show, but still, nothing." Without warning, except for maybe a small smile,   
Serena called out, "MOONLIGHT CRYSTAL ILLUMINATION!" and a beam of light hit Malachite   
straight in the stomach, sending him back 30 feet. The group behind her was amazed at the   
power that she just displayed. "You hurt me, you little tramp!" Malachite yelled after   
standing up.  
  
"I'm not just gonna hurt you, I'm gonna kill you!" She suddenly lifted the staff high above   
her head as light began to gather inside the crystal. She then held it straight out to the   
left, then turned her arms to hold it straight out to the right, gathering power as it went   
along. Then she lowered the crystal to the ground, crying out "MOONLIGHT", then, with her   
left hand, held it out to the right and swung it across, cutting the air and called out   
"VANQUISH!" Where the crystal was a bolt of light, shaped like a crescent moon that hurled   
itself towards Malachite. When it came in contact with Malachite, the power seared through   
him, mortally wounding him. He called out, "I'll see you soon, Zoicite," died, and   
disappeared. Serena sighed and leaned on her staff for support, moderate exhaustion   
settling in from the battle. Then a sudden feeling of being stared at washed over her and   
she turned around, remembering the Scouts, Tuxedo Mask, and the cats were still there and   
they were speechless. "I know, pretty cool, huh?" Serena said, to break the ice. But still   
they said nothing. After a few moments of silence, Serena said, "Ok, you guys are starting   
to scare me." As if snapping out of a trance, they all started to ask one question. "When   
did this happen?"   
  
"It happened when I turned Darien good again."  
  
"What do you mean it just happened?" Luna asked. Serena sighed and started to tell her   
story. "Well, when Prince Darien had hurt the other Sailor Scouts, I was mad. I was so mad   
that the crystal started to glow and eventually, the light was so bright that even I had to   
close my eyes. I don't honestly know how it happened, but I called out, "Power of the   
Moonlight" and was wearing this." She detransformed to show everybody her sub-armor.   
  
"Then," she continued, "I called out the words that bring out my armor. Here, I'll show   
you. I call upon the armor of the Moonlight. Armor of the Moonlight, TO ARMS!" Seconds   
later, she stood in front of them with her full body armor on again. "I honestly don't know   
how I knew what words to use, but it's like the anger inside of me woke up a part of myself   
I had forgotten. I can tell you, however, that I am far powerful in this armor than I ever   
was in my Sailor Moon form." After a few moments of thinking, Raye said, "Hey, if Serena   
can get this new armor, does that mean we can too?"  
  
"I don't suppose why not," Luna said.  
  
"Hey Luna," Serena started, "Do you know anything about this armor? How come we never knew   
about it before?" Silence hung in the air as Luna thought about it.  
  
"Now that you mention it, I do remember something about these armors. Let's to back to   
Raye's temple and I'll tell you about it."   
  
"Ok," Serena said, only detransforming to her sub-armor instead of her regular clothes.   
Mina noticed this and asked, "Hey Serena, why don't you fully detransform?"  
  
"I don't know. I like this sub-armor."  
  
"The what?"  
  
"The sub-armor. It's kinda the official name for it. I don't know how I knew this, but I   
do, so don't ask. It's just what it's called." Mina leaned in really close and said,   
"Yeah, although as comfortable as it may be, I think you might wanna detransform all the way   
for Darien's sake." Serena stole a glance at Darien and noticed that he was barely watching   
where he was going, he was so fixed on watching her walk. Serena only giggled and whispered   
back to Mina, "I'll amuse him for a little while. I'll detransform fully when I get to   
Raye's temple." And the rest of the walk there was silent. 


	2. The Myth of the Armors

The Mystical Warriors, Part 2  
***The Myth of the Armors***  
The walk to Raye's temple was relatively quiet, with a few pieces of conversation here and   
there. Everyone was too preoccupied to think. Where had this new armor of Serena's come   
from? That question, the group knew, could only be answered by Luna, who was, herself, deep   
in thought. Eventually, they arrived at Raye's temple and walked into her room. Mina gave   
Serena a look to remind her what she had said about detransforming and Serena detransformed   
from her sub-armor to her regular clothes. They all sat down around the table that was in   
Raye's room and no one moved to speak.   
  
Finally, Luna spoke. "I suppose you are all wondering what I know about this armor and the   
ones like it. I'm telling you now, I don't know everything, but I will tell you what I   
know." She cleared her throat and began. "In the beginning of the Silver Millennium, each   
planet created its own special armor, to be worn by the protector of the planet. But, in   
order to receive the armor, one had to go through training." Serena suddenly interrupted   
and said, "By being Sailor Scouts." She was getting it for once.   
  
"Yes, being a Sailor Scout was preparing the defender of the planet to wear the armor and   
wearing the armor meant that the defender of the planet had finally completed their   
training. The armors are fueled from the powers of the specific planets. Like for Mars,   
that planet's armor revolves around fire.   
  
"The armors were specially formulated so that when it was needed, all of the armors' powers   
could be combined and create an armor that would be worn by the person who wore the Moon's   
armor. What would happen was that the other eight planets would give up their power to the   
person who wore the Moonlight armor so they could wield the combined armor." Luna stopped   
at the confused look on Serena's face. "What's wrong Serena, do you not understand?"  
  
"Oh, I understand perfectly, but I have a question. You said there were eight others. Are   
those the other planets?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Well, if I'm not mistaken, there are 9 planets in our solar system and there are a total of   
9 armors, including the Moonlight Armor. What planet does not have an armor?"  
  
"I was just getting to that," Luna said. "Since the armors were connected to the Moon   
Kingdom, the Earth, which was a separate kingdom on their own, didn't have an armor   
connected to the Moon Kingdom, but it did have an armor. But this armor is special in how   
it came about. Right before Queen Beryl's attack on the Moon Kingdom, the king of the Earth   
requested that he have an armor made for his planet. On Earth were 10 kingdoms, and there   
was one that was sworn to protect the Moon Kingdom, the kingdom that you were born in,   
Darien. That kingdom didn't have one, but the other 9 kingdoms had a mystical armor   
connected to it. The ruler of all the 10 kingdoms requested that the Earth's armor be made   
from the combined 9 armors of the separate kingdoms and the other kingdoms agreed to it.   
  
"So, we helped the Earth make the armor and waited for it to choose a bearer, since in order   
to wield the armor, it has to choose you. But no one did, so it sat useless in the Royal   
armory for some time until it chose someone. He trained with the armor and finally became   
worthy of the armor, but right after, he was wooed over to join Queen Beryl to destroy to   
Moon Kingdom."  
  
"But the armors are good. They can't be used for evil!" Serena exclaimed.  
  
"No, that's not true. The armors are neither good nor evil, but can be either depending on   
the person. So anyway, the bearer of the Earth's armor was now one of Queen Beryl's   
generals and since she feared the power of the armor, she took it away from him. So in   
fact, there were 5 generals, not 4. After the battle that destroyed the Moon Kingdom, he   
was the only general who survived, but he was extremely weak. But, he found a nether world   
called the Evil Dynasty and built up his power using the Earth's armor. Eventually, he was   
strong enough to rule the Evil Dynasty and he led an attack on Earth.   
  
"But, a monk with magical powers defeated him and split his armor back into the original 9   
pieces that had been before, but could still be combined to make the Earth's armor by the   
person who bore the armor last. The 9 armors of the Earth were always able to combine to   
make a special armor, but the bearer of the special armor was the ruler of the 10 kingdoms,   
it was not the same as the armor of the Earth, because the armor of the Earth can only be   
recreated by the person who wielded it last."  
  
"So what became of the 9 armors?" Raye asked intently  
  
"The armors were hidden away, only to be used again when they were needed."  
  
"Why were they hidden away?" Ami asked.  
  
"They were hidden away so the wielder of the Earth's armor couldn't recreate them and take   
over the world."  
  
"So is there an official name for the armors?" Mina asked.  
  
"Yes," Luna said, "The armors from the planets are called the Mystical Armors and the armors   
from the planet Earth are called the Ronin Armors."  
  
"But the 9 pieces of the Earth's armor will be used again?" Darien asked.  
  
"Yes, but I don't know when."  
  
"Do you think we'll get our new armors soon?" Raye asked.  
  
"It all depends on how far along you are in your training?" Luna said.  
  
"Then why did Serena get it first before any of us? I'm further along with my training then   
she is."  
  
"Hey!" Serena said, insulted as Luna said, her gaze slowly moving over to Serena, "I don't   
know why Serena got her armor first…hey Serena, where's the Silver Crystal?" Everyone   
looked at her for her locket and started yelling at her for losing the Silver Crystal. "How   
could you lose the Silver Crystal, Serena?" Luna said. The Silver Crystal is the most   
powerful object in the universe. If she's lost it, I'll claw her eyes out.   
  
"I did not lose the Silver Crystal," Serena said indignantly.   
  
"Then where is it then?" Raye asked, annoyed.  
  
"Give me a minute, ok?" Suddenly, Serena closed her eyes and focused on the power of the   
crystal inside her. She searched for it inside herself, looking for the familiar tingle of   
the crystal's power. Once she found it, she knew she had to bring it out, no matter how   
much she would miss its presence. Willingly, she made the crystal appear in front of her,   
immediately missing the power of the crystal inside her. She smiled and opened her eyes to   
stare at the surprised faces, staring at her with awe and wonderment. "Where did it come   
from?" Lita asked.  
  
"From inside me."  
  
"Inside you?" the others exclaimed.  
  
"Yeah, the crystal is inside me now and I can call it out and back in willingly." She   
closed her eyes briefly and the crystal disappeared back inside her and she smiled at the   
rush of power that flowed through her veins. "Serena that is amazing! That is what   
completed your training. Being able to control the Silver Crystal like that," Luna said   
astonished.  
  
"Well, to tell you the truth, it only disappeared inside me with I got angry that my friends   
had gotten hurt. What really triggered it was I knew that I would do anything, including   
die, to save my friends and protect the Silver Crystal," Serena said.  
  
"Wow," Mina said, "You sure have matured quickly. You never would have had that attitude   
before in a fight."   
  
"Yes, I also noticed that you are much stronger in a fight, Serena. Would that have   
anything to do with her being able to wear the armor, Luna?" Ami asked.  
  
"Yes, I believe it does. The power of the armor is much stronger than your Scout power   
because your Scout power is like training, so you don't get all your power in your Scout   
form." A silence fell upon the group. There were a few moments of silence while everyone   
let everything they were just told soak in when Serena yawned. "Well, I'm exhausted. I   
didn't know that two full powered attacks could be so tiring. Good night." She got up to   
leave when Darien said, "Wait, I'll walk you home." He stood up and walked out the door   
with her. Soon after, everyone else said their good-byes and left Raye's house.  
***  
"So…" Serena said nervously as they walked down a quiet street. It was getting late and not   
many people were on the streets.  
  
"So what?" Darien asked, noticing the nervous tone in Serena's voice and becoming worried.  
  
"Are, um, we a couple, or what? Because last week we kissed, but we haven't really talked   
since or seen each other for that matter. So, what's up with us?" Darien, wanting to show   
Serena her answer rather than tell her, stopped and grabbed Serena's arm, turning her   
towards him. Gently lifting her chin up with his finger, he looked into her eyes and kissed   
her gently, yet passionately.   
  
When he withdrew, he saw tears gleaming in her eyes. "Does that answer your question?"  
  
"Sums it up nicely, I think," Serena said. Smiling widely at him, she took a hold of his   
hand and started walking. They walked the rest of the way to Serena's house holding hands   
and when they arrived at Serena's house, he thoroughly kissed her and said, "I'll see you   
tomorrow?"  
  
"You can count on it," Serena said. Kissing her good bye once more, he bid her good night   
and walked off home, leaving a dazed Serena on her front porch, leaning against the door for   
support for the romanticism of his actions made her knees weak. Sighing, she stood up   
straighter and walked into the house and went to sleep.   
*************  
Yay, Another part! Hope you liked it; feel free to tell us what you think, but please be  
nice. Constructive criticism is ok, but we're not too fond of flames! 


	3. The Arctic Comes Blowing Through

Oooh, more! How exciting! Anyhow, here's another chapter, so enjoy! ~DestinyBabe  
  
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The Mystic Warriors, Part 3  
  
***The Arctic Comes Blowing In***  
  
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It had been two weeks since the Sailor Scouts had found out about Serena's Moonlight armor   
  
and they were still in awe of the power she now possessed. To them, it explained why she   
  
was more mature. But now that they had found out, all they could do was wait for their own   
  
armor to appear and continue to question. The most popular question was who were the other   
  
four armor bearers. That would mean that there would have to be four other scouts that they   
  
didn't know about yet. But they would wait and find out. They had no other choice.  
  
***  
  
Ami looked at the clock by her bed. 6:25. Serena should be here any moment Ami   
  
thought ruefully. Serena was coming over to study for their math test. When Serena asked   
  
Ami if she could come over and study for the math test, Ami thought that she needed help.   
  
She didn't know that she was going to be wrong.   
  
At precisely 6:30, the doorbell rang, startling Ami. If there was one thing about this new   
  
power of hers, and the maturity that went with it, she was more punctual now then she had   
  
been before. Standing up, she ran to the door to welcome the first person to treat her as a   
  
friend. She opened the door to find Serena standing there holding her bookbag in one hand   
  
and her math book in the other. "Hiya Ami! Can I come in?"  
  
"Oh, sure," Ami said, smiling at her. Ami moved to the side as Serena stepped over the   
  
threshold into the house and slipped off her shoes. "You're on time, Serena."  
  
"Yeah, I guess I am. Why?"  
  
"Nothing, I'm just having a hard time accepting your newfound maturity. It's blowing   
  
everyone away."  
  
"I know. My parents think I've been possessed. Especially when I brought that English test   
  
home." Ami laughed at the recollection of Serena's story about how her parents reacted when   
  
she got a 99% on her English test. They fainted. "Yes, I suppose I would be shocked if my   
  
daughter had brought home an almost perfect test after a string of D's."   
  
"Shut up Ami, stop patronizing me."  
  
"Ok, ok." They sat down in Ami's room and Serena set her books on the table next to Ami's.   
  
"So Serena, what questions do you have?" Serena looked at Ami confused. "Questions?"  
  
"Yeah, that's why you came over to study, isn't it?"  
  
"No, I don't have any questions. I just wanted to study in a quiet environment and I was   
  
hoping that we could quiz each other, you know, so we can be prepared for the test." The   
  
shock on Ami's face was apparent and Serena noticed.   
  
"You thought that I had questions and that I wanted to have you help me? No, no, I just   
  
wanted to get away from my brother so he wouldn't bother me while I was trying to study."  
  
"Serena, I think that your parents have a right to be shocked," Ami said, the shock ringing   
  
in her voice.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because you're taking everything so much more seriously. You've changed, but you haven't   
  
changed. Do you understand?"  
  
"Not really."  
  
"You're taking everything, school and Sailor Scouts, seriously. But, you haven't lost the   
  
part of your personality that makes everyone like you and happy, so it's like you haven't   
  
changed at all. Plus, you're still a klutz when you're not in your armor. Now do you   
  
understand?"  
  
"Yeah, I guess I do," Serena said. She knew that in some ways, she was different, but in   
  
other areas, she was exactly the same.  
  
"Now, do you want to start studying?"  
  
"Sure. Ok, so y = mx + b is . . . "  
  
***  
  
Serena and Ami were walking home after school two days later, talking excitedly about their   
  
math tests.  
  
"I can't believe I got a 100%!" Serena exclaimed happily.  
  
"Yes, I'm very proud of you. I got the same thing."  
  
"Yeah, but Ames, that's expected of you. My parents are going to faint again."  
  
"I think that they'll handle it better this time. They're probably getting used to it."   
  
Serena and Ami started to laugh, but their laughter was cut short when they heard a scream   
  
coming from around the corner. They looked at each other and wordlessly ran to the source   
  
of the screams.   
  
There were two youmas who looked like a cross between a human and a bear and they were   
  
torturing two small girls. Enraged, Ami called out "MERCURY POWER!" and moments later, she   
  
appeared as Sailor Mercury. "Power of the Moonlight!" Serena cried, equally as enraged and   
  
stood there in her sub-armor. "Mercury, I'll lure one away so they'll be easier to defeat.   
  
Sound like a plan?"  
  
"Absolute Serena." She looked at Serena and she nodded. Serena drew in a big breath and   
  
called out, "Hey pig-breath. Come and fight me! Yeah, you, you coward!" One of the youmas   
  
heard her and took after her around the corner, leaving one there still torturing the two   
  
little girls. "Hey fuzz brain. Turn around and fight me," Sailor Mercury said. The youma   
  
turned around and said, "What's it to you, you weakling?"  
  
"I am not weak, now stop torturing those two girls and pick on someone your own size," Ami   
  
said, trying to ignore the youma's insults. He was only trying to catch her off guard.  
  
"Oh you mean like you?" He tsked at her, shaking his head, and picked up one of the girls   
  
by the throat. "No, I'd rather torture this one right here." Mercury looked at the girl   
  
whose throat was being strangled. Mercury gasped as she recognized the little girl as her   
  
neighbor's daughter, the girl she would always baby-sit. Baby-sat will be more like it if   
  
I don't do something quick. "MERCURY BUBBLES BLAST!" A fog infiltrated the air around   
  
them and the youma only laughed. "Ha, you think that works against me? Your little fog   
  
doesn't do anything to me." The fog cleared and the youma was smiling at Mercury, holding   
  
the girl by the shirt. Her eyes were closed and she didn't seem to be breathing. He tossed   
  
the girl at Mercury and she rushed towards the little girl.   
  
With tears filling her eyes, she checked for a pulse and found nothing. Sailor Mercury's   
  
anger and pain for what had just happened struck something inside her. She closed her eyes   
  
and allowed for a moment of remorse for the little girl lying dead at her feet. "I promise,   
  
I will avenge your death," Mercury whispered. She stood up and glared at the youma.   
  
Hissing, she said, "I'll get you for this."   
  
"Oh really? Are you going to blind me with your fog?" Ignoring his taunts, she cried out,   
  
"Power of the Artic!" A flash of bright light engulfed her and she appeared in sub-armor   
  
that looked exactly like Serena's. It was mostly white like Serena's except the silver on   
  
Serena's sub-armor was blue on Ami's and Ami had a silver wave on her chest that looked like   
  
a wave of ice. Unlike Serena, she had a blue headband going across her forehead. Her eyes   
  
were glowing with an intensity and fury that weakened the arrogance of the youma in front of   
  
her. He even took a few steps back.   
  
Taking a deep, she called out, "I call upon the armor of the Arctic! Armor of the Arctic, TO ARMS!" Her hands crossed over her chest as swirls of ice and snow swirled around her   
  
legs, arms, and chest, turning into blue armor. The ice and snow gathered in front of her   
  
head and turned into a helmet, which she picked up and put on. The wind created by the ice   
  
and snow died down and left Ami there in armor exactly like Serena's except where the silver   
  
was on Serena's armor, Ami's was blue. On her chest was a silver wave of ice and her helmet   
  
looked like the helmets of medieval knights, except hers was blue and came to a shallow   
  
point a couple of inches above the bridge of her nose, which looked like a widow's peak. On   
  
the forehead of her helmet was the same symbol that was on her chest.   
  
The youma, now backed up against the wall behind him, had let the other little girl go. The   
  
little girl had run off, leaving the youma and Ami alone. "Now, for revenge," Ami hissed.   
  
Spreading her arms out wide, swirls of ice and snow surrounded her, forming a column of ice.   
  
"RAGING ICE STORM," she said while crossing her arms in front of her chest as the column of   
  
ice solidified more. She then shoved her arms down to her sides and shouted, "FREEZE!" as   
  
the column of ice broke and sent shards of ice and energy towards the youma, effectively   
  
immobilizing it. Breathing heavy, she heard Serena behind her say, "Wow Ames, that was   
  
incredible. Want me to finish him off?"  
  
"Sure thing Serena." Serena nodded and cried out, "MOONLIGHT VANQUISH!" as a bolt of light   
  
in the shape of a crescent moon came out of the sweeping movements of Serena's staff,   
  
killing the weakened youma quickly. Sighing, Serena leaned against her staff for support,   
  
looking Ami and her new armor up and down. "Nice armor, Ami. Almost exactly like mine   
  
except for the color, the symbol and the helmet. Your helmet doesn't have horns like mine   
  
does and your symbol is a silver wave. Very nice. What's your armor name?"  
  
"The armor of the Arctic. Fitting for my previous powers, huh?"  
  
"Absolutely." They heard gasps come from behind them. They looked around and saw the other   
  
scouts looking at them. "Wow Ami," Lita said, "Nice armor. I think I'm almost jealous."   
  
Ami smiled, but then remembered the little girl lying on the ground. Tears filling her   
  
eyes, she moved over to the little girl and picked her up off the ground. Ami swallowed the   
  
lump in her throat said, "I couldn't save her. I don't think I'm worthy of the armor that I   
  
wear now." Lightly, Ami kissed the forehead of the little girl in her arms in remembrance.   
  
Serena, whose eyes were getting misty like everyone else's, detransformed into her  
  
sub-armor and drew the crystal out from inside her. "No Ami, you are worthy of the armor.   
  
More than you'll ever know," Serena said. Serena cried out, "MOON HEALING ACTIVATION!" and   
  
light surrounded the girl in Ami's arms. Suddenly, the little girl started breathing again.   
  
Ami looked at Serena in amazement as the little girl woke up. Looking up at the person who   
  
was holding her, she said, "Who are you? And what happened to those monsters?"  
  
"We took care of them. You're safe now," Ami said, "You can go home now."  
  
"Thank you," the little girl said as Ami let her down. The little girl started to walk   
  
away, but quickly turned around and gave Ami a kiss on the cheek as thanks for saving her   
  
life. Then she turned around and ran home. Ami smiled at the retreating form and   
  
detransformed into her sub-armor.   
  
Sighing, she went over to Serena, who had withdrawn the crystal back into her body, and   
  
hugged her. "Thank you for saving her." Serena smiled at Ami as she pulled away. "Hey   
  
Ami, I like your headband. It fits you," Serena said as she flicked one of the locks of   
  
Ami's hair that rested over her headband.  
  
"Thank you, Serena. I'm glad you think so."   
  
Spotting a flash of white out of the corner of her eye, she walked over and picked up her   
  
and Serena's test. "At least these survived the fight. Now you can go home and show your   
  
parents." As Serena, Ami and the scouts detransformed, Raye grabbed the test out of   
  
Serena's hand and looked at it with her mouth wide open. "You got a 100%?" she shouted.   
  
Mina grabbed it out of Raye's hand and said, "Let me see that." Her mouth dropped wide open   
  
as she spotted the grade at the top of the paper and she said, "Wow Serena, I'm proud of   
  
you. You obviously deserve this."  
  
"Yeah, I guess I do." Sighing lightly, she said, "So, how was everyone's day?" All at   
  
once, everyone started talking and Serena smiled, glad to listen to her friends' chattering   
  
as they started out to their respective houses. 


	4. The Eternal Pheonix Flies

The Mystical Warriors, Part Four  
  
***The Eternal Pheonix Flies***  
  
"CHAD!!!" Raye screamed across the temple grounds. Chad winced at the shrill of her voice   
  
as he swept the front steps of the temple. She was a beauty, but she was loud. "Chad, stop   
  
that annoying singing!"  
  
"But Raye, I have a beautiful voice. You don't appreciate such a talent like mine," Chad   
  
said as she walked over to him.  
  
"Talent?" Raye started to laugh. "That's one of the funniest things I've ever heard. Now   
  
stop singing!" So Chad did and Raye walked away, seeking the comfort and solitude of her   
  
room.   
  
Raye flopped down on her bed, sighing. Yelling at Chad always took a lot out of her. He   
  
was confusing her. She didn't know whether she liked him or not. Of course, Serena was   
  
saying that the two of them were meant to be, but Raye wasn't sure. She was waiting for a   
  
sign to tell her if she and Chad would a good couple. But that sign hadn't come yet, so   
  
she'd have to wait. She felt herself starting to drift off to sleep with the phone rang.   
  
Getting up, she went to get it. "Hello?" she said.  
  
"Hi Raye! You sound tired. Did I call at a bad time? I could always call back later…"  
  
"No Serena, it's fine. What's up?"  
  
"I just wanted to call to say hi. What's wrong? Was Chad singing again?"  
  
"Yes," she spat out, "I hate it when he sings. He sounds like a bird choking. I can't   
  
stand it."   
  
"Raye, I think he's just trying to get your attention. Not that it matters if you like him   
  
or not, he likes you and is just vying for your attention, that's all." Serena's comforting   
  
words surprised her.   
  
Ever since she gained her armor, Serena had been a lot more considerate of other people and   
  
their pet peeves. To borrow her comic books, she now asked and tried to not bother Raye.   
  
Raye just smiled at Serena's consideration and said, "I guess so. But does he have to be   
  
annoying while doing it?"  
  
"It's a way to make sure that he will stand out in your mind. Trust me, I can tell."   
  
"Thanks Serena, that makes me feel better, but I better go. I have chores that I need to do   
  
or I'll be busted big time. So I'll see you later, ok?"  
  
"Ok, feel better Raye. And remember, don't let Chad bother you too much," she said with   
  
humor in her voice.   
  
"Yeah, whatever Serena. See ya."  
  
"Bye Raye," and Serena hung up the phone. Raye put the phone back on its cradle and sighed.   
  
Better start doing those chores, Raye thought resentfully and walked out of her room.  
  
***  
  
Raye sat down on the steps of the temple, weary from working for two hours straight. The   
  
only good thing was that she didn't have to hear Chad sing. By the way, what happened to   
  
Chad? I haven't heard anything from him in a long time. Suddenly, she heard him scream   
  
bloody murder. Raye could feel her pulse quicken as she started to panic. She didn't know   
  
what she would do if Chad, or any one of her friends, got hurt. Nobody screams like that   
  
unless the Negaverse is attacking them. She stood up and cried out, "MARS POWER!" and   
  
after a flurry of light and fire, Sailor Mars stood there ready to battle.   
  
She ran to the area of the screams and found a youma who looked like he was soldier in a   
  
war, except that the gun that it was pointing at Chad shot out bolts of light, instead of   
  
bullets. She arrived to the scene too late to stop the next flow of events. She watched,   
  
frozen in place, as a bolt of light shot out of the gun and went right through Chad's   
  
stomach, sending blood everywhere. "CHAD!!!" she screamed in anguish as he fell to the   
  
ground. She ran over to him and kneeled by him, grabbing his hand, tears staining her   
  
cheeks. She tried to be comforting as Chad lay there, mortally wounded. She could feel her   
  
heart sink into her stomach. She had a feeling that he wasn't going to live and it chilled   
  
her to the bone. "Chad, it's going to be alright. I kill this monster for you, just please   
  
don't give up. For me, ok?"   
  
Chad turned his head to look at her through half-closed eyes and lifted up his hand to   
  
caress her cheek. Raye only cried harder at the tenderness of the action. "I know . . .   
  
you're Sailor Mars, Raye. And just want you to know that I love you . . . " Chad's eyes   
  
closed and his hand fell onto his chest, which Raye noticed had fallen still. "NOOO!" she   
  
cried out. Raye couldn't believe what had happened. Never did she ever imagine that Chad   
  
would be killed. This is my fault. If I had been a little faster . . . no, if I hadn't been a Sailor Scout, this wouldn't have happened, Raye thought. She gently pushed a   
  
strand of hair away from Chad's face, her face crumpling up at the thought that she would   
  
never talk to him again. And then she remembered the youma behind her.   
  
Forcing her tears to stop, she stood up and said, "How dare you kill my friend! You will   
  
die in return!! Power of the Phoenix!" Light surrounded Raye and she appeared in her   
  
version of the sub-armor, exactly like Serena's except of silver, hers was red with a golden   
  
phoenix on her chest. The youma laughed at her and said, "You think you can kill me? Ha,   
  
think again little girl!" He shot a bolt of light at her and she dodged it easily.   
  
Regaining her stance, she cried out, "I call upon the armor of the Phoenix! Armor of the   
  
Phoenix, TO ARMS!" She crossed her hands in front of her chest as fire and lava surrounded   
  
her arms, legs, and chest, creating armor. Wind swirled around her during this, sweeping up   
  
her hair into a bun at the top of her head. As with the other two, the lava and fire   
  
gathered in front of her face to create her helmet, which she picked up to put on her head.   
  
She stood there with fire literally coursing through her veins as the youma looked at her.   
  
Her armor looked like Serena's except it was red and her symbol was a gold phoenix on her   
  
chest-plate and helmet, which looked exactly like Ami's, except Raye's was red and had the   
  
gold phoenix on her forehead.   
  
She didn't hesitate before going into her attack. She put her hands above her head, the   
  
insides of her wrists touching and her palms facing the air with her fingers curled as   
  
flames gathered in her hand. She cried out, "FIREBIRD!" and brought her hands down to her   
  
chest, cupping them together with the flames inside her hands. Then she pushed her hands   
  
away from her body and called out "FLARE!" as a firebird erupted from her hand and rushed to   
  
the enemy, incinerating him quickly. She slumped down with exhaustion next to Chad, laid   
  
her head down on Chad and started to sob heavily.   
  
Serena then chose that moment to arrive at the temple, clad in her sub-armor. She took in   
  
the sight of Raye lying on Chad's chest in her armor and rushed over to them. When she got   
  
to them, she found that Raye was crying and that Chad had a big hole in his stomach, blood   
  
pooling around both of them. Raye looked up at her and said, "Can you bring him back to   
  
life?" Serena started solemnly and sympathetically at Raye and said, "I can try." Serena   
  
knew it wasn't going to work, but she was going to try for Raye.   
  
She drew the crystal out of her body and shouted, "MOON HEALING ACTIVATION!" but nothing   
  
happened, despite all the energy Serena put into it. Finally, Serena slumped to the ground,   
  
tired from over exhausting her power with the crystal, the crystal having disappeared back   
  
inside her. Serena looked at Raye with tears in her eyes and said, "I'm sorry. He's lost   
  
too much blood for me to save him. I would die a thousand times to bring him back to you,   
  
but I simply cannot. I'm sorry." Serena edged her way over to Raye and gathered her into a   
  
hug, rocking her back and forth as Raye's body shook with her sobs.   
  
Ami, Lita, and Mina ran up the steps, but stopped suddenly and took in the sight of a   
  
sub-armor-clad Serena hugging a crying, armor-clad Raye, both kneeling in a pool of blood,   
  
Chad's blood. They knew he had died and went over and hugged the two, making a group hug,   
  
as Raye continued to sob.   
  
***  
  
A week later, a funeral service was held for Chad. Everyone thought that the service was   
  
beautifully done and told Raye, who had organized the service with permission from Chad's   
  
family. After the funeral was over, Raye stayed behind to give her final farewell to one of   
  
her closest friends. She stood looking at the casket that held Chad's still form and two   
  
tears rolled down her cheeks. She was pale and she had bags underneath her eyes that came   
  
from not sleeping for the past week. Serena came up to her and touched her shoulder. Raye   
  
jerked her head to look at Serena. "I'm sorry Raye. I know how much you loved him." Raye   
  
shook her head. "I'm not sad because I love him and he's gone."  
  
"Then why are you sad?"  
  
"Because I never got a chance to find out if I loved him." Looking at Serena, her face   
  
crumpled as the tears started up again. Serena pulled Raye into a tight hug. After a few   
  
moments, they pulled away and grabbing Raye's hand, Serena started to walk away, but Raye   
  
stopped her. "Wait a minute," she told Serena. Raye turned around and blew a kiss at   
  
Chad's casket. "Good-bye Chad." Grabbing Serena's hand, the two walked away, leaving Chad   
  
to rest in peace. 


	5. Lightning Strikes

The Mystical Warriors, Part 5  
  
***Lightning Strikes***  
  
Lita, Serena, and Ami sat in class on Friday afternoon, listening to Ms. Haruna ramble off   
  
the class announcements. They couldn't wait until she finished the announcements so they   
  
could leave. ". . . and we need someone to volunteer to do the baking for our class fair.   
  
Any volunteers?" Lita's ears perked up at that statement. Immediately, she shot her hand   
  
up, eager to do anything that involved working in the kitchen, and said, "I'll do it, Ms.   
  
Haruna. I'd be glad to, in fact."  
  
"Thank you for volunteering Lita. I know that with you culinary skills, the class fair will   
  
be wonderful." Lita smiled and settled down to listen to the rest of the announcements, but   
  
not really listening because she was already planning what she was going to bake during the   
  
weekend for Sunday's class fair.  
  
***  
  
Lita arrived home with her arms full off grocery bags that were full of supplies to bake her   
  
heart out this weekend. She set down the groceries on the counter and began unloading the   
  
bags. Sighing, she pulled out her cooking supplies, her measuring cups and spoons, her   
  
cooking bowls, and other utensils and began to cook.  
  
***  
  
By Sunday morning, Lita had made four regular cakes, a cheesecake, 10 batches of cookies, 6   
  
batches of brownies, and about 5 containers of other various goodies for the fair. She took   
  
a look around her kitchen of all the food that she had to carry to school and decided that   
  
she couldn't do it alone, that she needed the help of her friends. Walking over to the   
  
phone, she picked it up and dialed Serena's number. "Hello?" came the reply.  
  
"Hey Serena. I need you help."  
  
"Sure, what is it?" Serena asked.  
  
"I need you to help me carry all the food I made to school for the fair tonight. Can you do   
  
that?"  
  
"Sure, anything else you need?"  
  
"Yeah, can you call Raye and Ami to help as well? I'll call Mina and enlist her help."  
  
"Sure, no problem Lita. I'll call the others and we'll be over there faster then you can   
  
say 'Jupiter Power'. Okay?"  
  
"Okay, see you soon. Bye."  
  
"Bye Lita," Serena said before Lita hung up the phone. She sighed again and sat down on her   
  
couch to wait for her friends.  
  
***  
  
It took three trips, but eventually, the 5 girls got all the food to the school. "Ok,   
  
that's the last of it, thank God," Lita said.   
  
"Do you need any help setting up the food?" Ami asked.  
  
"No, I don't. Besides, if I eventually do need help, the I can ask any of the other people   
  
around here to help set it up." The group looked around the courtyard at the other 20   
  
people that were scattered around, setting up various booths. "You guys can go. I'll be   
  
fine."  
  
"You sure?" Mina asked.  
  
"I'm positive. You guys go and I'll see you all later tonight at the fair."  
  
"Ok," they all said in unison. "Bye Lita!" they said as they walked off.  
  
"Bye guys!" Lita yelled back. She turned around and started to set up the food. She opened   
  
a container full of peanut butter cookies and sniffed the contents, letting the aroma of   
  
baked good infiltrate her senses. She absolutely loved the smell of baked goods. It   
  
reminded her of happy times when her mother was alive and was able to bake for her daughter,   
  
her little sunshine. Lita's eyes watered at the thought of her mother. Even now, 6 years   
  
later, she still missed her deeply. Time hadn't been enough to heal that wound. But, Lita   
  
kept the memory of her mother alive by cooking, baking in particular. Lita's mother loved   
  
to bake and passed on the passion to Lita. To Lita, baking was more than making food; it   
  
was a way of keeping her mother alive in her heart. Wiping the tears from her eyes, Lita   
  
quickly went back to work. Lita was setting up for about 10 minutes when she heard a thump   
  
near by. Lita turned her head to peer around suspiciously, but seeing nothing, turned back   
  
to setting up her food. Hearing it again, she turned around and scanned the area.   
  
Suddenly, a youma appeared, which looked like a cross between a small tyrannosaurus and a   
  
human. It was about 20 feet tall and must have weighed as much as an elephant.   
  
Lita's eyes widened and the people around her screamed, running off in fear. Lita assumed a   
  
fighting stance and said, "Come on big guy, come to Mama!" The youma turned to look at her   
  
with a calculating gaze, almost as if it were sizing her up, before it charged her. She   
  
barely had enough time to recognize that it was coming for her before she jumped out of the   
  
way. Landing on her two feet, she called out "JUPITER POWER!" Seconds later, she stood   
  
there as Sailor Jupiter.   
  
Concentrating her power, she called out, "JUPITER THUNDER CRASH!" and a ball of lightening   
  
surrounded the youma, hurting it, but not stopping it. In fact, if it did anything, her   
  
attack just made it even madder. It started going on a rampage and destroyed every booth in   
  
sight. Lita was praying that it wouldn't destroy the table that had her food on it.   
  
When it charged for that very table, she cried out, "NO!" The youma stopped mid-rampage and   
  
looked straight at Lita. It seemed to almost notice that this table full of food was   
  
special to her. It smiled at her viciously and hit the table, cracking the table in half   
  
and sending her food flying everywhere.   
  
The blow to the table seemed to send a pang of pain through her body and her eyes filled up   
  
with tears at the sight of all her hard work splayed all over the ground. All of her   
  
memories of her mother came flooding back. Her mother had taught her how to make everything   
  
that the youma just destroyed. Baking was Lita's way of paying homage to her mother and the   
  
youma had just ruined it. Her fists clenched and she screamed out of anger. "Ooh, I'll get   
  
you for that you stupid monster! I'll teach you to mess with lightning!" Lita began to   
  
glow brightly, a strong, green light radiating from her body. The light continued to build   
  
up until it exploded. In the midst of the explosion, Lita called out, "Power of Lightning!"   
  
  
  
Moments later, she stood in her sub-armor, which was like the others' except she had green   
  
where the others had color and she had a silver lightning bolt across her chest and a green   
  
headband across her forehead. "Now you're going to get it!" she yelled at the youma. "I   
  
call upon the armor of Lightning! Armor of Lightning, TO ARMS!" Suddenly, the wind started   
  
to blow around her, putting her hair into a bun at the top of her head, and bolts of   
  
lightning and energy swirled around her, creating armor on her arms, legs, and torso. As   
  
with the others, lightning and energy gathered in front of her face and created a helmet   
  
like Raye and Ami's. She grabbed the helmet and put it on.   
  
Then, a bolt of lightning shot straight down in front of her, creating a sword facing up,   
  
with a lightning bolt on the hilt. Grabbing the hilt, she assumed the fighting stance   
  
naturally, as if she had been fighting with a sword her entire life. Her armor was like   
  
everyone else's except hers was green, her symbol on her chest-plate and helmet was a sliver   
  
lightning bolt, and she had a sheath for her sword on her back in case she needed to fight   
  
without the sword.   
  
The youma charged her suddenly and Lita moved slightly out of the way, the tip of her sword   
  
grazing along the belly of creature, drawing blood. This enraged the creature even more and   
  
it charged again and the same thing happened. This pattern repeated a few more times until   
  
the youma couldn't keep up anymore. Lita decided that it had been enough and that it was   
  
time to get rid of the youma. She held the sword by the hilt with both hands in front of   
  
her face, eyes closed, the flat of the blade parallel to her face with lightning gathering   
  
at the tip while calling out "LIGHTNING SWORD!" Then she turned the sword so the flat of   
  
the blade was perpendicular to her face and she opened her eyes. She then flipped the sword   
  
over and called out "STRIKE!" while impaling the ground.   
  
Lightning came out of the hilt and went straight up into the air, creating a bolt of   
  
lightning in the shape of a sword, which flew to the youma and impaled it, surrounding the   
  
youma in a ball of lightning, vaporizing it quickly. Lita watched the area in front of her,   
  
feeling herself power down. She never felt as energized as she did than the moments after   
  
the fight. She felt so alive and this time, it was different, special even, because she was   
  
experiencing the feeling with a new power. Behind her, she heard a whistle and turned   
  
around to see Ami, Raye, Serena, and Mina looking at her in awe. She looked at the group   
  
and herself and thought that Mina looked odd being the only one in a Sailor Scout outfit.   
  
"How long have you guys been standing there?" Lita asked.  
  
"Long enough to see you use your attack," Serena said in awe.  
  
"Yeah, that was awesome," Mina said.   
  
"So, you're the armor of Lightning?" Ami asked.   
  
"Just like Raye's the armor of the Phoenix," Lita said.  
  
"I wonder what my armor will be?" Mina said thoughtfully. She smiled and shrugged. "Oh   
  
well, I guess we'll see. I can't be too far behind you guys. I'd say in about another two   
  
weeks. That's about how long it was between each of you guys and getting your armor. So,   
  
hopefully, I'll be getting my soon."  
  
"Yes," Serena said, "And I'm sure your power will be awesome too."  
  
"Thanks Serena." She stopped talking and looked around and said, "Seesh, that youma really   
  
made a mess out of things- oh my God Lita! Your table and food! My god, I'm sorry."   
  
Lita's expression turned somber as her mind drifted to all of the food that she made,   
  
spilled all over the ground, half of it destroyed, and she found that she wasn't really mad   
  
anymore. If the youma hadn't ruined her food and made her mad, Lita probably would have   
  
never gotten her armor.  
  
"It's ok. I'm not really mad, but the thing that got me was that youma knew that table was   
  
special and purposely destroyed it. That's what made me mad and triggered my armor, I   
  
guess. But what's been done has been done and cannot be undone, I suppose. So, I'll deal."  
  
"It's great that you're taking this so maturely, but are you sure you're ok?" Serena asked.  
  
"I'm sure," Lita said, detransforming back into her regular clothes. The others soon   
  
followed suit. "Besides, at least mine wasn't the only one destroyed. Looks like all of   
  
them were." Looking around regretfully, she shook her head and said, "Well, let's go. No   
  
use hanging around here and I don't want to stay to clean it up. Other people will clean it   
  
up." That remark got a few scattered agreements. "Hey," Serena said, "Let's go to the   
  
arcade and hang there for a while. There's nothing else to do. How 'bout that?"  
  
"Sure," the rest said in agreement and walked off in the direction of the arcade. 


	6. The Gates of Heaven Open Wide

The Mystical Warriors, Part 6  
  
***The Gates Of Heaven Open Wide***  
  
Mina looked around the arcade ruefully and slumped further into her seat. Lately, she'd   
  
felt really alienated from the rest of the Scouts. Or Mystical Warriors, She thought   
  
sadly. She was only one of the group to not have her full power and she felt left out. All   
  
the others talked about how much more powerful they felt and how the power ran through their   
  
veins like fire. Mina felt like she was missing out on something great. And she was, she   
  
knew it. Her armor hadn't appeared yet and she kind of separated herself from the group.   
  
Ever since Lita got their armor, they'd been saying that she would get hers soon, but it had   
  
been 5 weeks since that happened and she still hadn't gotten it yet. She was beginning to   
  
doubt that she ever would at the rate things were going.   
  
But, while this was happening, she had gotten closer to Andrew, the guy who worked at the   
  
arcade. She used to have a crush on him, but since she knew he had a girlfriend, she got to   
  
know him as a friend instead and they became like brother and sister. She felt that she had   
  
known him for her entire life. Andrew approached her and said, "Hey Sis, what's wrong?"   
  
She looked up at him and smiled. About a week ago, he accidentally called her "Sis" and the   
  
name just kinda stuck. So, to give him a nickname, she called him "Bro". "Nothing, Bro."  
  
"If it was nothing Mina, you wouldn't look so depressed."  
  
"I can't talk about it."  
  
"Sure you can. You can talk to me about anything. I hate seeing you this way. You're   
  
always so happy and seeing you like this makes me doubt that there is eternal happiness out   
  
there somewhere. So tell me your problem." Mina tried to hold it in, but one look into   
  
Andrew's trusting eyes and Mina felt her resolve slipping away. The wayward thought that   
  
Rita was a very lucky woman popped into her head. Mina only wished she could find someone   
  
as trusting as Andrew was. Taking a deep breath, Mina began to explain her problem.  
  
"Well, all my friends have just joined this new club and they want me to join, but I have to   
  
prove myself worthy, like they did, but my time hasn't come yet and I feel left out. I'm   
  
not mad at them and they're not excluding me, I just feel a little out of the loop."   
  
Somewhere in the middle of her tirade, Mina's gaze shifted to her lap.  
  
"Well, that'll all pass soon," Andrew said optimistically.  
  
"How do you know?" Mina asked, glaring up at her friend  
  
"I don't know. I just have a feeling that everything'll be alright."  
  
"You always have that feeling," Mina said flatly at the cheery look on her friend's face.  
  
"Hey, you can't blame a guy for trying, can you?"  
  
"No, I guess not."  
  
"Hey, I'm off in about 5 minutes. Wanna go for something to eat? It's on me," Andrew said,   
  
drawing the topic away from Mina's problem.  
  
"If you're paying, I'll eat anything. I'm hungry."  
  
"Ok, wait about 5 minutes and we'll be off." To Mina, the five minutes felt like months,   
  
but finally, Andrew was ready to go. "So," he started, "Where do you want to eat?"  
  
"I don't know. What do you want?"  
  
"I'm in the mood for Chinese. You?"  
  
"I could do Chinese."  
  
"Ok then, let's go." They went to this little Chinese place that Andrew said served the   
  
best Chinese food in the city. During the dinner, they got into a miniature noodle fight,   
  
flinging noodles at each other. One of the waiters gave them a look and they stopped,   
  
finishing their dinner in semi-silence. When dinner was finished, Andrew paid for it and   
  
they left the restaurant. When they left the restaurant, Andrew started walking with her in   
  
the direction of her house. Mina stopped walking and looked at Andrew, a look of confusion   
  
on her face. "Andrew, what are you doing? Your house is in the other direction." Andrew,   
  
who had taken a few more steps before stopping, turned around and looked at Mina with an   
  
"isn't it obvious?" look.   
  
"I know. I'm walking you home."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because I want to make sure you get there safely."  
  
"Andrew, I can take care of myself." More then you know. Mina thought.  
  
"I'd just feel better knowing that you're home safe, Sis." Andrew wasn't going to give up   
  
and Mina knew it.  
  
"Whatever you say." They started up again, walking along together in comfortable silence   
  
for about 5 minutes when Mina hear something rustling in the bushes and she stopped, putting   
  
her hand on Andrew's arm. "Did you hear that?"  
  
"Hear what?" he asked. Mina was silent for a few more moments while her ears strained to   
  
hear the noise that wasn't there. Shrugging, she finally gave up.  
  
"Nothing, I must be hearing things." It happened again, but louder this time. And this   
  
time, Andrew heard it. "I don't think you were hearing things, Mina," Andrew said, both of   
  
them halting.  
  
"I told you so." They both stepped away from the bushes, looking at them apprehensively,   
  
and a youma jumped out and stood before them. The youma had bright pink skin and was   
  
dressed like a cook with hands that held many knives. Mina backed away slowly, pulling   
  
Andrew along with her. "Uh, Andrew?"  
  
"Wh-What?"  
  
"RUN!" They both took off and the youma followed them. They ran into the park, but   
  
somehow, the youma had gotten ahead of them and stood in front of them, waiting for the two   
  
to show up. Andrew and Mina saw the youma and stopped suddenly. Andrew stepped in front of   
  
Mina in a vain attempt to protect her. "Stay away. I won't let you hurt her," Andrew tried   
  
to say menacingly, but Mina could hear the fear in his voice.   
  
The youma only laughed and threw a knife at Andrew. Mina leapt and pushed Andrew down to   
  
the ground, landing on top of his back. She stood up and stepped in front of Andrew, who   
  
she was now ignoring, and glared at the youma. "Don't try that again, you hear me?"  
  
"Who are you to be telling me that, girl?" the youma said.  
  
"Believe me, you have no idea who you're messing with."  
  
"Show me," the youma taunted. Mina drew in a deep breath and felt Andrew's eyes on her   
  
back. Quickly looking at him, she saw him sitting up, looking at her, scared of the person   
  
in front of her. She gave him a reassuring look and cried out, "VENUS POWER!" and   
  
transformed into Sailor Venus.   
  
Behind her, she heard Andrew gasp as she transformed and, for some reason, she didn't care   
  
about him knowing that she was Sailor Venus. As soon as her transformation was complete,   
  
she assumed a fighting stance and said, "Try me." The youma looked mildly surprised and   
  
sent a bolt of energy straight for Mina. She dodged it easily, but temporarily forgot that   
  
Andrew was behind her. Mina turned around just in time to see the bolt of energy hit Andrew   
  
hard, knocking him unconscious.   
  
She ran over to check on him and saw that besides a nasty bruise on the head and the fact   
  
that he was out cold, he was breathing easily and was alive. Although he was ok, Mina was   
  
extremely mad at the youma standing in front of her. Facing the youma again, she said, "How   
  
dare you hurt my friend, you monster? You won't get away with that."  
  
"Oh really and what are you going to do about it?"  
  
"This: VENUS CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!" A beam of light went straight for the youma and the   
  
youma dodged it. In fact, it dodged about 5 of Mina's attacks. "Ooh, this is it! You're   
  
dead."  
  
"What makes you think so, little girl?"  
  
"Little girl? I'll show you what this little girl can do. Power of the Heavens!" Bright   
  
orange light surrounded Mina and she stood there in her sub-armor. It was like the others,   
  
but her color was orange and her symbol was a pair of golden wings with a silver sword in   
  
between the two wings. "That's cute," the youma sneered.  
  
"You haven't seen anything yet. I call upon the armor of the Heavens! Armor of the   
  
Heavens, TO ARMS!" Wind and golden light swirled around Mina. The wind, like the others,   
  
swirled her hair around until it formed a bun on the top of her head. The golden light   
  
swirled around her legs, arms and torso, turning into armor. As with the others, golden   
  
light gathered in front of her face creating a helmet that she picked up and put on.   
  
She stretched out her right hand, her palm facing up, and more golden light gathered in her   
  
hand, creating a bow and light gathered at her back, creating a quiver of unlimited arrows.   
  
When the light died down, she was standing there with her bow in her right hand, glaring at   
  
the youma in front of her. Her armor was like everyone else's except hers was orange, her   
  
symbol was the golden wings with the silver sword down the center, and her helmet was like   
  
Raye's, with her symbol on the forehead. Calmly and smoothly, she pulled an arrow out of   
  
her quiver while saying "BEAUTY!" She then set the arrow in the bow, light gathering at the   
  
heart-shaped tip while saying, "SHOCK!" Then, she let go of the arrow while saying, "WAVE!"   
  
and the arrow flew to the feet of the youma, surrounding it a bright, beautiful ball of   
  
painful light and energy. The youma screamed and fell to his knees.   
  
Suddenly, Mina heard Serena cry, "MOONLIGHT VANQUISH!" and a bolt of light flew toward the   
  
youma, disintegrating it. Mina turned around, a huge smile on her face, and saw Ami, Lita,   
  
Serena, and Raye standing in their armors, ready to fight. "Just in time," Mina said.  
  
"Yeah, just in time to save you butt," Raye said as everyone laughed.  
  
"Um, excuse me?" Everyone turned their heads to look at a confused Andrew, who was slowly   
  
pushing himself into a sitting position on the ground.  
  
"What is going on here? Who are you guys?" Mina looked at all the others and, shrugging   
  
her shoulders, said, "We can tell him. He saw me transform into Sailor Venus. We can trust   
  
him with this." The others nodded and at the same time, all 5 took off their helmets and   
  
held them under their arms while Andrew looked at them shocked. "Ami? Lita? Raye?   
  
Serena? Mina?" All of them nodded. "You guys are superheroes?"  
  
"No, we're super heroines," Lita corrected him, emphasizing the last word of her statement.  
  
"Pardon me," Andrew said, really meaning it, and everyone laughed. All of them   
  
detransformed and checked over Andrew. After a few moments of fussing, Andrew was finally   
  
allowed to get up. "You do know that this is serious and you cannot tell anyone, right?"   
  
Serena asked.  
  
"Yeah, I won't tell anybody." Everybody sighed in relief. "Well," Mina said, "I have to   
  
get home."  
  
"Yeah, me too," everyone else said. Everyone said their good-byes and separated, walking in   
  
the direction of their own home. 


	7. Five Powers Make One Everlasting

The Mystical Warriors, Part 7  
  
***Five Powers Make One Everlasting***  
  
The five mystical warriors sat in a booth in the arcade, solemnly sipping at their sodas.   
  
"There's nothing to do," Serena exclaimed.  
  
"I know, I've been really bored lately," Lita said. Ever since Mina received her armor,   
  
things had been relatively quiet for them. There had been no Negaverse attacks, which was   
  
good for them, but also tended to make them bored. "Hey Serena," Raye said, "Why aren't you   
  
with Darien?"  
  
"He has work today. Otherwise, I would be with him." The others just sat there thinking of   
  
what to do with their boredom when Andrew came up to them. "Hey guys, how are you doing?"  
  
"Fine, but we're really bored," Ami said.  
  
"What, no fights lately?" Ever since Andrew found out about their secret identities, he'd   
  
been in awe of them and their power. When he asked how they gotten their armors, they'd   
  
explained their past life as princesses of the planets and that they were Sailor Scouts   
  
before they were the Mystical Warriors. Andrew had been in awe of the fact that they were   
  
princesses from other planets.   
  
To react to that, he revered them completely. "No, no fights lately, "Raye said. Suddenly,   
  
Mina came up with an idea on how to cure their boredom. She smiled and looked up at Andrew.   
  
"Andrew, do you still have that Frisbee in back that we bought to use at the park a while   
  
ago?"  
  
"Yeah, why?"  
  
"Because I wanna borrow it."  
  
"For?" he prompted.  
  
"To cure our boredom. What to you guys say to a game of catch in the park to keep up our   
  
speed and agility?" The others looked to be considering her offer and then Lita said, "Why   
  
not? I could use the training," and the others nodded in agreement.   
  
"Could you go get that Frisbee, Andrew?" Mina asked.  
  
"Sure, be right back," he said as the turned to go to get the Frisbee. He came back shortly   
  
after he left and handed Mina the Frisbee. "Thanks," she said and left money on the table   
  
for the drinks. Getting up, the 5 left the arcade, waving good-bye to Andrew, who waved   
  
back.  
  
***  
  
At the park, the 5 girls formed a circle so they could pass it back and forth. As they were   
  
throwing it and catching it, there was no doubt that the best Frisbee-thrower was Serena   
  
from all the times that she had to use her tiara as a weapon when she was Sailor Moon, not   
  
Serena, bearer of the Armor of the Moonlight. All of the girls were laughing and gossiping   
  
while they tossed the Frisbee around and jumped or ran to pluck it out of the air. But   
  
somewhere else, someone was planning to ruin their fun . . .   
  
***  
  
"Is my youma ready?" Queen Beryl asked her head advisor as she lounged in her throne room,  
  
her nails of her right hand casually drumming the armrest.  
  
"Yes my queen, we're about ready to let it loose."  
  
"Good, good. Just make sure that it's strong enough. Ever since the Scouts gained those   
  
armors, they have been most formidable enemies."  
  
"My Queen, they couldn't possibly defeat the power of this youma. We have put too much   
  
energy into it."  
  
"Well, make sure it doesn't fail, for your sake. Because if it does, I'll have your head on   
  
a platter. Is that clear?"  
  
"Absolutely, my Queen."  
  
"Wonderful, release the youma," Queen Beryl instructed.  
  
"As you wish, my Queen"  
  
***  
  
The girls were still tossing around the Frisbee when a rumbling was heard in the sky. Raye   
  
stopped mid-throw and looked up at the sky. "Did you guys hear that?"  
  
"Yeah, I heard that," Serena said.  
  
"It's weird, it sounded like thunder, but there's not a cloud in the sky," Ami said.   
  
Suddenly, a bolt of energy hit the ground right in front of Raye and Raye jumped back to   
  
avoid getting his. "Ok guys, power up!" Serena said. All the others nodded. "Power of the   
  
Moonlight!"  
  
"Power of the Phoenix!"  
  
"Power of Lightning!"  
  
"Power of the Arctic!"  
  
"Power of the Heavens!" Moments later, all 5 girls stood there in their sub-armor, ready to   
  
fight. Looking up in the sky, they watched as the youma floated down from the sky. When   
  
she landed, the 5 finally got a good look at her. She had blue skin and she was wearing a   
  
black dress. She had no feet, but tentacles that looked like octopi legs. To Serena, the   
  
youma reminded her of a very thin Ursula from The Little Mermaid. She chuckled and said,   
  
"So these are the famous Mystical Warriors. You look more like sweet innocent girls to me.   
  
Oh well, to bad I have to kill you."  
  
"The only one that's going to be killed is you, you slime-infested creature," Raye shouted.   
  
The youma was taken aback and said, "I think I've been insulted. How you hurt me with your   
  
words! Right. How does the saying go? Oh yes. 'Sticks and stones can break my bones, but   
  
words will never hurt me.' How apropos. Oh well, enough chat. It's time to die."   
  
She laughed maliciously and stretched out her hands and black lightning flew from them,   
  
surrounding the 5 girls. As the lighting reached them, it seared through their bodies,   
  
causing them extreme pain. They all screamed as the pain consumed them, the sound of their   
  
screams echoing through out the park. And the youma continued to laugh. Suddenly, the   
  
lightning stopped, giving the girls a moment's respite, and the youma said, "Did that hurt?   
  
No? Well then, we're going to have to make it hurt." She never got the chance to release   
  
the lightning again when a red rose landed right by her feet, momentarily paralyzing her.  
  
  
  
"Quickly, transform into the armors!" Tuxedo Mask said. As if on cue, all the girls cried   
  
out their summoning cries, gathering up as much strength as possible. "I call upon the   
  
armor of the Moonlight! Armor of the Moonlight . . . "  
  
"I call upon the armor of the Phoenix! Armor of the Phoenix . . . "  
  
"I call upon the armor of Lightning! Armor of Lightning . . . "  
  
"I call upon the armor of the Artic! Armor of the Arctic . . . "  
  
"I call upon the armor of the Heavens! Armor of the Heavens . . ."  
  
"TO ARMS!" they all cried at once. Moments later the 5 Mystical Warriors were standing   
  
there, ready to fight. Lita charged forward first and cried out, "LIGHTNING SWORD STRIKE!"   
  
and a lightning sword flew straight for the youma, but she dodged it quickly as Lita looked   
  
at her with surprise. No youma had yet been able to dodge that attack.   
  
Next came Raye, who cried out, "FIREBIRD FLARE!" as a firebird flew straight for her, but   
  
the youma created a force field around her and the firebird crashed into the shield,   
  
disintegrating. Then, as Raye was fuming from the fact that her attack failed, Mina call   
  
out, "BEAUTY SHOCK WAVE!" and let loose and arrow, but the youma dodged her attack as well.   
  
  
  
She dodged Serena and Ami's attacks also and the scouts were confused about what to do when   
  
it suddenly hit Ami; she had an idea that just might work. "You guys, maybe if we combine   
  
our attacks together, we might be able to beat her."  
  
"It's worth a shot," Raye said.  
  
"What have we got to lose?" Mina said.   
  
"Ok, guys let's go! MOONLIGHT . . . "  
  
"FIREBIRD. . . "  
  
"LIGHTNING SWORD . . . "  
  
"RAGING ICE STORM. . . "  
  
"BEAUTY SHOCK . . . " The youma looked at them and laughed. "You'll never be able to beat me   
  
with you petty attacks." But she was very much wrong. "VANQUISH!"  
  
"FLARE!"  
  
"STRIKE!"  
  
"FREEZE!"  
  
"WAVE!" All of their power combined together to form blinding force that ripped through the   
  
youma quickly. Before dying, the youma cried out, "Queen Beryl, I have failed you." Then   
  
there was nothing but dust. "Good job Mystical Warriors. You have showed yourselves that   
  
apart, your powers are strong, but when combined, can create an unstoppable force. My   
  
congratulations to you," and then he was gone. "I can't believe he still does things like   
  
that. Give messages like that. They're too corny," Serena said.   
  
"Admit it Serena, you like his corny messages," Lita taunted, the hint of a smile playing on   
  
her lips. Serena gave up, knowing Lita was right, and sighed.   
  
"I guess in a way I do. But they're still too corny."  
  
"Good point," Lita said back. All of them detransformed and resumed their positions in the   
  
circle. Raye picked up the temporarily forgotten Frisbee and said, "Hey Lita, heads up!"   
  
and tossed it. They resumed the game quickly as if nothing had ever interrupted it. 


	8. Just in the Knick of Time

The Mystical Warriors, Part 8  
  
***Just in the Knick of Time***  
  
Darien and Serena were sitting on a bench in the middle of the rose garden, the ending   
  
activity of their date, kissing. Serena had her arms wrapped around his neck and his arms   
  
were around her waist, occasionally brushing through her long hair. They broke apart and   
  
Darien gave Serena a gentle smile while caressing her cheek. She smiled and closed her   
  
eyes, nuzzling his hand. Removing his hand from her cheek, she kissed it and turned around   
  
in his arms to lean against his chest and look at the night sky.   
  
Sighing contently, she said, "I love the stars tonight. You can really see them clearly.   
  
Look at them Darien." Pulling her closer to him, he whispered, "I like the view I have   
  
right now, thank you."  
  
"And what view would that be?" Serena asked with a small smile on her face, though she knew   
  
what the answer was going to be even before he said it.  
  
"The view of your beautiful face, of course." Serena smiled even wider and nestled into his   
  
arms further. Putting his chin on her right shoulder, he whispered in her ear, "I love   
  
you."  
  
"I love you too," she whispered back. Suddenly, her body tensed up and she sat straight up.   
  
Inwardly, she sighed. Couldn't she have a perfect, peaceful evening alone with her   
  
boyfriend without any interruptions? "What? What is it Serena?" Darien asked her. He took   
  
in her posture and said, "Is it a youma?" Serena grimaced.  
  
"Yeah it is. Perfect ending to the perfect evening, don't you think?"  
  
"I think so," he agreed sarcastically. Quickly, he transformed into Tuxedo Mask and Serena   
  
called out, "Power of the Moonlight!" and appeared in her sub-armor. They broke off in a   
  
run with Darien following Serena, relying on Serena's instincts to get them to the youma.   
  
Since Serena received her armor, she'd been a tracker of sorts in that she always knows   
  
where a youma is. She just has to get to it in time so it won't hurt anyone, which at times   
  
was hard to do, depending on the distance between her and the youma.   
  
When they arrived at the place where the youma was, they saw that it was a robot of sorts   
  
that had many drills and knives and other useful weapons where its hands should have been.   
  
And it was torturing a young couple. "Hey!" Serena cried out, outraged that the youma was   
  
trying to ruin another couple's perfect night, "Just because you ruined my night with my   
  
boyfriend, doesn't mean you can ruin others' evenings. Turn around and fight."   
  
Those last four words still struck Darien as odd. Darien wasn't used to Serena initiating   
  
fights; he was used to her avidly avoiding them. But that had been before the armor.   
  
Serena seemed to gain more than maturity from her armor; she also gained courage. The robot   
  
turned around and glared at them, if that was possible for it didn't exactly have eyes, and   
  
said in a monotonous voice, "You dare challenge me?"  
  
"I dare anything and anyone I want, mister," Serena said. Closing her eyes, she readied   
  
herself for her transformation. "I call upon the armor of the Moonlight! Armor of the   
  
Moonlight, TO ARMS!" Moments later, she stood there in the Moonlight armor, staff in hand   
  
and ready to fight. Darien, in an attempt to keep Serena from fighting as much a possible,   
  
charged the robot, but was backhanded by a metallic arm and sent flying off to the side.   
  
"Darien!" Serena cried out and leapt over to him. Relieved to find him only unconscious,   
  
she turned around and called out "MOONLIGHT CRYSTAL ILLUMINATION!" feeling like she could   
  
kill the youma with her bare hands. A beam of light shot out of her staff and engulfed the   
  
youma in a ball of light. She smiled triumphantly, but that smile faded when the robot   
  
walked right through the ball of light.   
  
She was so surprised that the youma had survived her attack without getting hurt that she   
  
didn't make any move to fight back when the youma knocked her staff out of her hands. She   
  
stumbled backwards and closed her eyes and prepared for the worst, but that never came. "I   
  
wouldn't do that, if I were you," a calm voice said. Serena opened her eyes and saw a woman   
  
a few years older then her in sub-armor that was like hers, except on the woman's, Serena's   
  
silver was dark olive green. She had rose-colored eyes and her hair was olive green to   
  
match her sub-armor. "And why shouldn't I kill her?" the youma asked. "Because you would   
  
never live to celebrate it," the new warrior said coldly. The woman closed her eyes and   
  
said, "I call upon the armor of Time! Armor of Time, TO ARMS!" Swirls of olive green light   
  
surrounded the woman and turned into armor. Her helmet appeared from the olive green light   
  
gathered in front of her face and she grabbed the helmet, putting it on. Then a bolt of   
  
olive green light appeared and created the woman's staff. Her staff looked exactly like   
  
Serena's except it held a red crystal. Her armor was dark olive green, so dark that it was   
  
almost black, and her symbol was a silver infinity sign. Holding her staff in her right   
  
hand, she crossed her hands over chest and said, "ULTIMATE TIME . . . " Wind started to whirl around her and then she thrust her arms out and shouted, "FREEZE!" The youma, who was   
  
making his way toward the olive green-clad woman, froze in his tracks. "What did you do to   
  
him?"   
  
"I froze time. You can destroy him now." Serena picked up her staff and cried out,   
  
"MOONLIGHT VANQUISH!" and a bolt of light flew toward the youma, destroying it quickly.   
  
Serena turned around and said, "Who are you? Why are you here? And why does your crystal   
  
in your staff look like mine?" The woman waved her hand over the glowing red crystal and as   
  
her hand passed over it, the crystal stopped glowing and Serena could hear the sounds of   
  
movement again. Serena thought about it for a moment and then realized that the woman had   
  
unfrozen time.  
  
"My name is Celia and I wear the armor of Time. I am here to serve you and protect you, my   
  
princess, and the crystal that I have in my staff is the Time Crystal, the crystal that   
  
controls time."  
  
"So, why did it take you so long to get here?"   
  
"I'll explain when the others get here."   
  
"What do you mean?" Suddenly, the other four appeared, ready to fight, but calmed down when   
  
they saw Celia. "Who are you?" they all said, confused looks spreading over their faces.   
  
The woman smiled slightly and answered their question.  
  
"My name is Celia and I control the Armor of Time."  
  
"So, what took you so long to get here?" Serena repeated. Celia was about to answer when a   
  
groan was heard coming from the bushes. "Oh God, Darien!" Serena said, rushing over to him.   
  
"Darien, are you ok?"  
  
"Nothing two Aspirin and a good night's sleep wouldn't cure." He looked up and saw Celia.   
  
"Who are you?" She sighed in annoyance of having to answer the question a third time and   
  
said, "I am Celia and I control the Armor of Time."  
  
"Nifty," Darien said, still kind of out if it, as Serena helped Darien off the ground,   
  
supporting him as he stood on his feet.   
  
"Now, I'm not going to be interrupted again, am I?" Celia asked. When all of them shook   
  
their heads, she said, "Ok. Serena asked me why it took me so long to get here and I'm   
  
going to answer her question. For a thousand years, I have been guarding the gate of Time   
  
as Sailor Pluto. Not a short time ago, I received this armor and was told by a voice to go   
  
to the real world and protect the Moon Princess. I complied and here I am."  
  
"Are the other three coming soon?" Serena asked.  
  
"Yes, they are coming soon, but that's all I can tell you." A silence fell over the group   
  
and Serena said, "Ok, is it ok if I get home now? I'm supposed to be home in about 20   
  
minutes." Serena's nose crinkled as she realized that she didn't know what time it was. "I   
  
think," she concluded  
  
"Yes, I need to get home myself," Ami said.  
  
"Yes, meet me here tomorrow at 5 o'clock and we will discuss this further," Celia said and   
  
began to walk away. "Wait," Serena said, "Where are you staying?" She needed to know that   
  
Celia at least had somewhere to stay while she was down on Earth.  
  
"I have my own house on the outskirts of town. I'll be fine," Celia said and continued to   
  
walk away until she was out of sight. The others stood silent and then all of them   
  
detransformed. Hooking her arm through Darien's, Serena said, "Darien, will you walk me   
  
home?"  
  
"Yeah sure. Bye, girls," he said to the others as he and Serena began to walk away from.  
  
"Bye Darien. Bye Serena, see you tomorrow," they all called out as they too began to walk   
  
home.  
  
"Bye you guys," Serena called back just before she was out of hearing range.   
  
***  
  
Serena and Darien approached her house and Serena said, "Some night we've had, huh? I mean,   
  
we fight a youma during our date and meet another Warrior. It's a good thing that she came   
  
along when she did. Or I'd be dead."  
  
"Yeah I know. Good timing, huh?" Darien said.  
  
"Yep," Serena said. When they got to her front door, Serena said, "I guess this is my   
  
stop." She leaned forward and kissed him briefly. "I'll see you tomorrow. I love you."  
  
"I love you too, Serena. Good night." He kissed her again and started to walk home,   
  
leaving her on her doorstep. Serena sighed contently as she watched him walk away and   
  
walked inside her house. 


	9. Earth and Water Break Their Way Through

The Mystical Warriors, Part 9  
  
***Earth and Water Break Their Way Through***  
  
The next morning, Serena woke up with somewhat of a headache. She opened her eyes and   
  
immediately shut them again, protecting them from the power of the sunlight that was   
  
streaming in through her window. God, I think fighting right before bed makes my head   
  
hurt the next day. Oh well, if we saved peoples' lives, then it was worth it. Sighing,   
  
she sat up and kicked her legs off the bed, kicking Luna at the same time, who happened to   
  
still be sleeping. "Serena, could you be a little more considerate for cats who are   
  
sleeping?"  
  
"Oh, sorry Luna, I didn't know you were there." Luna yawned and continued to laze on   
  
Serena's bed, her eyes closed.  
  
"It's alright. How was your date with Darien last night?"  
  
"It was fine, but the weirdest thing happened."  
  
"What?" Serena smiled; she couldn't wait to tell Luna that piece of news.   
  
"We have a sixth warrior." At that, Luna bolted up, wide awake, and said, "Say that again?"   
  
Serena shook her head, a smile still on her face; it was the reaction she was looking for.   
  
Sighing, Serena began to explain the news about Celia.  
  
"I said we have a sixth warrior. Her name is Celia and she controls the Armor of Time."  
  
"So, she's from Pluto. It was always Pluto's responsibility to look after Time. Well, when   
  
do I get to meet this warrior?"  
  
"Today at 5:00. We're meeting in the part where a youma attacked last night and we're going   
  
to her house to formally introduce ourselves. And you're coming."  
  
"Sounds fine with me," Luna said, barely containing a yawn, while settling back down on the   
  
bed, "Just let me get a few more hours of sleep." At that Serena chuckled. "I think you've   
  
adopted my old sleeping habits," she said with a lilt in her voice.  
  
"Oh shut up," Luna deadpanned as she fell back asleep.  
  
***  
  
Serena was holding Luna in her arms as she stood in the park, waiting for everyone else in   
  
the spot they said they'd meet at. "Where are they, Luna?"  
  
"Serena, just to let you know, we're early. By about 10 minutes. So sit down and wait   
  
patiently." If there was on thing that hadn't changed about Serena was that she was still   
  
as impatient as ever. But, this time, Serena knew Luna was right.  
  
"Ok, Luna." Serena sat down and crossed her legs, still holding Luna in her arms. They sat   
  
there in silence for about 10 minutes or so until they heard a rustling in the bushes and   
  
turned their heads to find Lita and Raye coming out of the bushes. "Hey, Girlfriend, you're   
  
early," Lita said, surprised to see Serena already waiting for them. Usually, it was the   
  
other way around.   
  
"I know, I was antsy and had to get out of the house. So I left early."  
  
"How long have you been here?" Raye asked.  
  
"About 10 minutes."  
  
"You've been here that long?" Lita asked.  
  
"Yes, and she's been really impatient waiting for you guys to show up," Luna said   
  
exasperated. The other two chuckled. "Now you know how we felt when you were always late,   
  
Meatball Head," Raye taunted. Serena's face contorted into a mask of anger and annoyance at   
  
being called by her old nickname.  
  
"Ooh, I thought we agreed not to call me that any more!"  
  
"Sorry, slip of the tongue," Raye said apologetically, really meaning it. Serena didn't   
  
deserve that name anymore.  
  
"It's ok," Serena said, "I can deal."  
  
"Hey guys!" they heard Ami cry out. The four of them turned their heads to find Darien,   
  
Mina, Ami, and Celia walking towards them. Serena stood up and let go of Luna, who jumped   
  
to the ground to say hello to Artemis. "Are we going to go back to my house?" Celia asked,   
  
"Because I think it would be safer to talk where no one could hear us." The others agreed   
  
and walked with her back to her house.  
  
***  
  
When they arrived in front of Celia's house, the others gasped. Her house was a huge   
  
3-story mansion on, as she said, the outskirts of Tokyo. The house it self was a   
  
pinkish-coral in color and the trim was white. "Celia, where did you get this house?" Ami   
  
asked.  
  
"I have my connections," Celia said conspicuously.  
  
"No seriously, where did you get this?" Ami asked again.  
  
"This house has been mine for a while. I would come and stay down here when I would look   
  
after you when you were all Sailor Scouts," she said as she walked up the steps to the front   
  
door. The others followed her closely, still amazed at the sight and size of the house.   
  
Celia pulled out a set of keys from the purse that was over her shoulder and unlocked the   
  
front door, opening it to show a large foyer. The others stepped inside and were amazed   
  
once again. "Wow, it's bigger then it looks, if that's possible," Serena said.  
  
"How many rooms does this have?" Raye asked.  
  
"It has this foyer, a living room, a grand dining-room, a kitchen, a waiting room, a   
  
downstairs den, 10 regular bedrooms, ten guest rooms, 15 bathrooms, and a family room   
  
upstairs that's on the floor with the regular bedrooms." Raye whistled at the account of   
  
all the rooms as Celia led them through the house, and up two flights of stairs to the   
  
family room that was on the third floor. Breathless, the group sat down on the various   
  
couches, set up in a half circle. With all 7 of them sitting down, they still could have   
  
fit about 10 more people. "Why did you take us all the way up here? Wouldn't a room on the   
  
first floor be more convenient?" Mina asked, still trying to catch her breath from the trek   
  
up the stairs.  
  
"Yes, but this room is more comfortable and it's my favorite room in the house," Celia said.   
  
It was obvious that Celia was used to going up and down all those stairs like that; she   
  
didn't look affected at all by the climb up to the third floor.  
  
"Oh," Mina said; there are some people that she just will never understand.  
  
"I have a few questions for you, Celia," Serena said.  
  
" Like what?"  
  
"Can you use the attack you used last night on every enemy any time you wanted to? Because   
  
it would make fighting a lot easier."  
  
"I cannot," Celia said gravely.  
  
"Oh, why not?" Serena whined.  
  
"Because, it is not good for me to stop time too often. I can only use that attack when it   
  
is necessary. Last night was necessary." Serena knew that Celia had a point; the idea of  
  
freezing time seemed to be pretty serious.  
  
"Wait, you can freeze time?" Raye asked.  
  
"Yes, but only when it's necessary."  
  
"How cool," Lita said.  
  
"What's your other question, Serena?" Celia asked, moving away from the topic of her power.  
  
"Can you explain the story of the armors, planetary and earthly, because Luna doesn't know   
  
enough and I though you might." Celia nodded at her and began to explain the story.  
  
"You were right. I do know the whole story. Let me tell you. In the beginning of the   
  
Silver Millennium, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and the   
  
Moon all created 9 special armors to be worn by the protectors of the planet. All the   
  
princesses of the planets at the time when you lived in the Silver Millennium were Sailor   
  
Scouts, including Serena, and were training to wear the armor, but unfortunately, none of us   
  
were ready when Queen Beryl attacked."  
  
"Yes, we know that, but can you explain the Earth's armor?" Serena said annoyed. She wanted   
  
answers to the questions she didn't know. Celia shot Serena a look that said she had to be   
  
patient. Serena abruptly shut her mouth.  
  
"I was getting to that. Right before the end of the Silver Millennium, when we were Sailor   
  
Scouts, there were ten kingdoms on Earth. One of them was Darien's kingdom, which was sworn  
  
to protect the Moon Kingdom. The other 9 kingdoms had their own special armors."  
  
"What were they?" Raye asked.  
  
"They were the armor of Wildfire, the armor of Halo, the armor of Torrent, the armor of   
  
Hardrock, the armor of Strata, the armor of Cruelty, the armor of Venom, the armor of   
  
Corruption, and the armor of Illusion. Of these nine kingdoms, the kingdom that owned the   
  
armor of Wildfire was the leader. After a most unfortunate accident, 5 of the kingdoms had   
  
their kings die unexpectedly. So their sons took their place. The kings were now King Ryo   
  
of the Wildfire, who was Serena's cousin in the past, King Sage of the Halo, King Cye of the   
  
Torrent, King Kento of the Hardrock, and King Rowen of the Strata and they were all young   
  
kings, about the ages of you 5 girls at the time. King Ryo, who was betrothed to Darien's   
  
sister. . . "  
  
"I had a sister in the Silver Millennium?" Darien found that strange; he didn't recall   
  
having any family during the Silver Millennium.  
  
"Yes you had a sister, though I can't remember her name right now. Anyway, King Ryo   
  
requested the help of the Moon Kingdom to combine all the 9 armors into a Mystical armor for   
  
the Earth. The Moon Kingdom agreed and set out to help him in his task. When we finished,   
  
the armor for the Earth was called the Armor of Life. So now, all there was to do was wait   
  
for it to choose a bearer.   
  
"When it finally chose, all of the Kingdoms rejoiced, for now they would have someone to   
  
protect them. A common lord named Talpa was the one chosen wear the armor. He was trained   
  
and eventually had enough training to wear the armor. But when he did, he was lured over to   
  
Queen Beryl's fight against the Moon Kingdom and the side of evil, where Queen Beryl took   
  
away his power and made him a general. When the battle started, he was there in the middle   
  
of it, but when Queen Beryl started to lose, he withdrew himself from battle and hid   
  
himself.   
  
"After the battle was over and everyone was transported to the future, he reclaimed his   
  
armor, but he was extremely weak. A nether world called the Evil Dynasty took him under   
  
their wing and helped him regain their power, in hope that he would lead them in conquering   
  
the world. He did, but he lost to a monk with Ancient powers, who defeated him and   
  
separated the armor into its nine original parts. He then arranged it so that when the time   
  
came, the kings who gave up their armor to create the armor of Life, would be reborn and   
  
wear the armor against evil once again."  
  
"But the armor can still be recreated?" Ami asked.  
  
"Yes, but in two ways. If combined by the leader of the armor's wearers, or the Ronin   
  
Warriors, it creates the armor of Inferno. If combined by the person who last wore the   
  
armor of Life, will create the Earth's armor once again."  
  
"Can the Armor of Life be combined with the others to make that special armor worn by the   
  
bearer of the armor of Moonlight? The armor Luna was talking about?" Serena asked.  
  
"Yes, but only in the form of the armor of Life. When the armors are in their 9 original   
  
parts, they cannot be used to created the special armor of the planets, even when it's the   
  
Inferno armor."  
  
"What's the special armor called when all of the 9 planet armors are combined?" Serena asked   
  
again.  
  
"I don't know, I couldn't tell you. We know it can be formed, but it never was, so we don't   
  
know what it's called. The name will be revealed when the armors are combined for the first   
  
time."  
  
"Oh," Serena said. There was a silence for a few minutes when Celia said, "There's   
  
something I left out in that story."  
  
"What's that, Celia?" Ami asked. What else could Celia possibly tell them.  
  
"There's another set of armor that I failed to tell you about. The armors from the Sun   
  
Kingdom. When they're needed, the three armors from the Sun Kingdom, the Armor of Destiny,   
  
the Armor of Fate, and the Armor of Prophecy, will come to help us. But, when that is, I   
  
don't know. All that I know is that they will be coming and when they do, we'll need their   
  
help."   
  
"Why didn't they help us back in the Silver Millennium?" Darien asked.  
  
"They, too, weren't ready to fight. They hadn't been trained well enough to wear the armor,   
  
so they couldn't help us. They tried, but they also were sent to the future," Celia said.  
  
"Who were they?" Mina asked.  
  
"They were the daughters of Apollo, the king of the Sun Kingdom. Their mother was aunt to   
  
Ryo of the Wildfire. Although the Moon Kingdom ruled over the Solar System, the Sun Kingdom   
  
ruled over the Universe."  
  
"So, they're my second cousins, or something like that," Serena said.  
  
"Right," Celia said, "But we don't know where they are. We won't know until it's time for   
  
them to appear," Celia finished. Then, the discussion of the group fell away from armors   
  
and they started to talk about everything that went on in their lives, trying to introduce   
  
Celia to their lives. After a few hours of talking and basically just acting their age, the   
  
Mystical Warriors decided that it was time to go home. Darien left with Serena, Lita and   
  
Mina left together, and Ami and Raye left together, all saying good-bye to Celia before they   
  
left. Celia watched as they all walked down the walkway, smiling at their retreating   
  
figures. "If only you knew how much I knew," she muttered. Smiling even wider at the   
  
secrets she knew, she shook her head and closed the door.  
  
***  
  
Raye and Ami were walking towards Ami's house to drop her off. They were walking home   
  
together because their houses were in the same direction, as Lita and Mina's houses were in  
  
the same direction. "What an interesting night, huh?" Ami asked Raye. Raye nodded in   
  
agreement.  
  
"Yeah, it was weird all right. But do you know what I don't get?" Raye asked.  
  
"What?"  
  
"When she was mentioning the names of the 5 young kings of the Earth's 9 kingdoms, I got the   
  
weirdest chill when she said, 'King Sage of the Halo'. Did something like that happen to   
  
you?" Raye wanted to know that she wasn't crazy.  
  
"Yeah it did. But it happened when she said, 'King Rowen of the Strata'. It's like that   
  
name triggered something inside of me that I had forgotten."  
  
"Yeah, me too. I forgot about Chad for a moment . . . " Raye trailed off as tears gathered in her eyes.  
  
"You still miss him, huh?" Ami asked, noticing Raye's demeanor change.  
  
"Sometimes I do. I'm just mad because I never got to find out if I like him, but I'm not   
  
really sad anymore." Raye wondered at that statement. Was she still really sad that Chad   
  
was gone?  
  
"Well that's good," Ami said, not fully believing Raye. She had a feeling that Raye still   
  
missed Chad more than she let on.  
  
"Besides, if I ever meet this Sage person, he better be cute."  
  
"I know how you feel. I feel the same way about if I ever meet 'King Rowen'. He better be   
  
smart, though. I could never have a stupid boyfriend."  
  
"Ami, the person who went out with you would have to be smart to keep with up with your   
  
science babble." Ami giggled and said, "Thanks Raye. But, the person who went out with you   
  
would have to be understanding and patient with the way your temper gets sometimes."  
  
"Yeah, I know." She smiled dreamily when she heard a scream and her face hardened as she   
  
slipped into her warriors mode. "Ami, I hate to break up this nice chat of ours, but did   
  
you hear that that scream?"  
  
"Yes, I did. We should go check that out. Power of the Arctic!"  
  
"Power of the Phoenix!" The girls were suddenly in their sub-armor, running towards the   
  
place of the scream.   
  
When they got there, they saw a youma that was a cross between a salamander and a human   
  
being. The youma was about 10 feet tall and had a tail that was about that same length. It   
  
had cornered two boys and was spitting poison at them, which the boys were barely dodging.   
  
Raye and Ami had figured that the youmas weren't really after innocent people. They were   
  
just using people to lure the Mystical Warriors to them. "Hey lizard-breath." The youma   
  
turned around to look at Raye, who called that out, and glared at them. "You talking to   
  
me?" the youma hissed, literally. "Yes, I'm talking to you, stop torturing those two boys   
  
and fight us. I call upon the armor of the Phoenix! Armor of the Phoenix, TO ARMS!"  
  
"I call upon the armor of the Arctic! Armor of the Arctic, TO ARMS!" A few moments later,   
  
Raye and Ami stood there in their full armor, ready to fight. "Good luck fighting me.   
  
You'll never win. I shall enjoy listening to you die slowly."   
  
"Oh yeah? What are you going to do? Spit poison at us?" Raye asked sarcastically. The   
  
youma only smiled and the two girls felt their confidence fade.  
  
"No. I'm going to do this." The youma crouched down and using its tail, which had   
  
magically gotten longer, swung it though the air, knocking both of the armored girls off   
  
their feet and sending them flying through the air. The girls were rammed into a wall and   
  
were badly bruised, even through the layers of their armor. The youma approached their   
  
beaten forms and was amazed. "You are still conscious! That is amazing. But, I must say,   
  
I am slightly disappointed in your powers. I expected more from you. Well, all the better   
  
for me as I kill you slowly."  
  
"I don't think so, buster."   
  
Raye and Ami lifted their heads to see two girls in sub-armor standing behind the youma.   
  
One was a girl who could have passed as a boy, if she wasn't wearing the sub-armor. She had   
  
dusty, golden blond hair and blue eyes. Her sub-armor was like everyone else's except her   
  
color was midnight blue and her symbol were two daggers, a gold one and a silver one,   
  
crossing over her chest and she had on a midnight blue headband going across her forehead.   
  
The other was most definitely a girl. She had turquoise-colored hair that went a little   
  
past her shoulder and the same color eyes. Her sub-armor color was an aquamarine where   
  
everyone else had their color and her symbol was a silver trident. "Who are you?" the youma   
  
asked. The one with the blond hair said, "I am Alex, bearer of the Armor of the Earth,   
  
protector of the planet Uranus and you are going down."  
  
"And I am Michelle, bearer of the Armor of the Seas, protector of the planet Neptune and   
  
you'll be flooded out of town."   
  
Suddenly, Alex cried out, "I call upon the armor of the Earth! Armor of the Earth, TO   
  
ARMS!" In a flurry of golden light, midnight blue armor encased her arms, legs, and torso.   
  
Her helmet was created and after she put it on, she crossed her hands in front of her where   
  
two daggers appeared from the light that gathered in her hands. One dagger had two yellow   
  
topazes engraved in the hilt and the other had two blue topazes. Her symbol on her chest   
  
and forehead was the same as before.   
  
The other girl, Michelle, who was still in her sub-armor, giggled slightly and said, "I   
  
guess I better follow suit. I call upon the armor of the Seas! Armor of the Seas, TO   
  
ARMS!" Swirls of water and wind flew around her. The wind scooped her hair up into a bun   
  
at the top of her head and the water created aquamarine armor over her torso, legs, and   
  
arms. Her helmet was created from water that gathered in front of her and she put it on.   
  
Then, a thin water column appeared in front of her, creating a trident that was about a foot   
  
taller then her with two aquamarines where the three spokes came together. Her armor symbol   
  
was the same one on her chest and forehead then was on her sub-armor.   
  
The two standing together made a magnificent pair, almost as if they belonged together.   
  
Michelle took her trident and held it in two hands, right below where the jewels were, and   
  
the jewels started to glow with an aquamarine colored light. She put the base of the   
  
trident on the ground and water started to form above the middle spoke of the trident, while   
  
saying, "ROARING!" She then picked up the trident and created a circle of water above her   
  
head, which formed a column of water around her body, while saying, "HURRICANE!" Then she   
  
hit the ground with the base of the staff and said, "BLAST!" and the column of water hurled   
  
itself toward the youma, hurting it with the force and energy of the attack.   
  
Then, Alex stepped forward and crossed her daggers in front of her face. She then started   
  
to glow with a golden-yellow light. "EARTH QUAKE!" She raised her hands above her hands   
  
and connected the hilts of the daggers and slammed the daggers down on the ground, the   
  
golden light leaving her body, going into the daggers and into the ground, while saying   
  
"STRIKE!" The ground under the youma exploded and covered the youma with pieces of rock,   
  
killing it instantly. Raye and Ami got up weakly, holding on to each other for support.   
  
"Thank you," Ami said.  
  
"No problem," Michelle said.  
  
"Yeah, you looked like you could have used a little help," Alex said smiling. Raye and Ami   
  
smiled back and suddenly, Lita, Mina, Celia, and Serena appeared, armored and ready to   
  
fight. "Where's the youma? And who are these two?" Serena asked.   
  
Alex stepped forward and said, "I am Alex, bearer of the armor the Earth, protector of the   
  
planet Uranus." Michelle, stepping up next to Alex said, "I am Michelle, bearer of the   
  
armor of the Seas, protector of the planet Neptune and it is a pleasure to meet you,   
  
princess," she said to Serena. "Thanks, I think." Serena wasn't used to being called   
  
"princess" yet. "It's nice to meet you to. I am Serena and this is Celia, Lita, and Mina.   
  
The two over there are Raye and Ami and we welcome you to our team."  
  
"Thank you, it is nice to meet you too," said Alex.  
  
"Now we just have to wait for Saturn to get here and we'll have a full team," Celia said.   
  
"Well, I don't know about you, but I have school tomorrow and I need my beauty sleep. I'll   
  
see you all tomorrow," Serena said sleepily and walked off. The others all expressed their   
  
tiredness and went home.   
  
Alex and Michelle, who were watching the other 5 Warriors walk off, approached Celia, their   
  
eyes still on the others. "They're quite a team, aren't they?" Alex asked.  
  
"Yes, they are a very interesting group of warriors. A little disorganized at times, but   
  
they have what it takes to be unstoppable," Celia said to Alex and Michelle. Turning   
  
towards them, she said, "But, you guys didn't come to talk to me about the other Mystical   
  
Warriors. You two need a place to stay, don't you?" Alex was too embarrassed to say   
  
anything, but Michelle had no problems speaking up. "Yes, we did. We have our stuff in   
  
Alex's car, but we have nowhere to go. Do you have any room for us?" Celia smiled at the   
  
two young women. "Like you wouldn't believe," she said, "Let's go to my house in your car   
  
and I'll show you where you can sleep." Alex and Michelle smiled at her.   
  
"Thank you Celia," Alex said. Alex and Michelle started walking off towards Alex's car,   
  
with Celia slightly behind.  
  
"It's no problem, no problem at all." 


	10. A Life and Death Situation

The Mystical Warriors, Part 10  
  
***A Life and Death Situation***  
  
Serena, Ami, Raye, and Mina sat in Serena's family room, listening to their respective   
  
guardians laugh and talk and gossip. Lita wasn't with them on account of the fact that it   
  
was the anniversary of her parents' death and she wanted to spend some time alone. Serena's   
  
mother had invited Ami's mother, Raye's grandfather, and Mina's parents over for dinner that   
  
evening. And now, Serena, Ami, Raye, and Mina had to listen to them all laugh and gossip   
  
like people their age. All of them wore looks of apprehension, annoyance, and fear on their   
  
faces. Collectively, they all sighed.  
  
"They're giving me a headache," Raye said, her voice unusually meek, the voice she used when   
  
she started to get a headache.  
  
"I think they've had too much alcohol tonight," Mina said, trying to give a reason for their   
  
loudness, but she honestly didn't believe herself. Serena gave a small yell of frustration   
  
and said, "Come on, let's go up to my room. Maybe it'll be quieter up there." All the   
  
girls agreed and got up to walk upstairs to Serena's room and away from the laughter.   
  
***  
  
Queen Beryl knelt in front of the amorphous form of Queen Metallia. "Beryl, why have you   
  
not destroyed those annoying armored warriors like you promised?"  
  
"I tried, my Queen, but they diverted all my attempts," Queen Beryl said, scared of what   
  
Queen Metallia could do to her. "Do you have a plan, my Queen?" Beryl asked.  
  
"Yes, send out two youmas. One as a distraction and the other one to destroy what those   
  
troublesome warriors love the most."  
  
"And what's that my Queen?"  
  
"Their family," Metallia said maliciously. Beryl swore she could see an evil smile although   
  
Metallia at the moment had no face to smile with.  
  
"Yes my Queen. A most excellent plan. I'll send out two youmas at once."  
  
"Be sure that you do. That'll be all Beryl," Metallia said before she disappeared.   
  
This'll get those warrior brats. You will pay for my failures with your family, Beryl   
  
thought cruelly before she let out a chilling laugh and yelled, "Dispatch two youmas on the   
  
double!"  
  
"Yes Queen Beryl," her head advisor said.  
  
***  
  
Serena and the others were sitting on her bed in her room, glad for the fact that they   
  
couldn't hear their parents as much upstairs. Serena sighed in relief. "Finally, some   
  
silence," she said.  
  
"Hm-hm," the other muttered in agreement. All of the sudden, Serena stood up, feeling the   
  
prickling sensation of an attack coming on, and said, "Uh-oh guys. I'd hate to break up this   
  
relaxing session, but I can feel a youma attacking. Let's go to work."   
  
All of the others groaned, but stood up and followed Serena out of the room at a run. She   
  
bounded down the stairs with the others in tow and said, "Mom, the girls and I are going out   
  
on a walk. We'll be back later."  
  
"Ok, honey!" she called absently as Serena opened the door and rushed out of it. They had   
  
gotten a few blocks away when Serena called out, "Power of the Moonlight!" The others   
  
quickly followed suit. "Power of the Arctic!"  
  
"Power of the Phoenix!"  
  
"Power of the Heavens!" All of the girls ran to where the youma was in their sub-armor,   
  
getting weird looks from the few people that were out on the streets. When they arrived at   
  
the battle scene, they saw a little girl about the age of 12 in sub-armor that was purple on   
  
her arms, legs, and her belt around her waist. She had a purple headband across her   
  
forehead and her symbol was a golden circle being eclipsed by a black one. "You will not   
  
live to see the light of day," the little girl cried out. "I call upon the armor of the   
  
Gods! Armor of the Gods, TO ARMS!"   
  
Dark purple light surrounded her, creating dark purple armor. Her helmet appeared and she   
  
put it on. Then, a bolt of purple light shot down, creating her weapon, a glaive. The   
  
youma, which looked like a huge walking shark, just growled at her. Picking up her glaive   
  
with her right hand, she cut the air diagonally from left to right, then from right to left   
  
diagonally, creating a "X" made out of black lightning. She called out "LIFE AND DEATH   
  
STRIKE!" and hit the ground with the base of her glaive, sending the "X" hurling toward the   
  
youma, killing it instantly.   
  
The little girl turned around and said, "Hello, I am Heather, bearer of the armor of the   
  
Gods, protector of the planet Saturn, and I take it you are also Mystical Warriors as well?"   
  
The others nodded and Raye stepped forward and said, "I'm Raye, and this is Serena, Mina,   
  
and Ami. And we are pleased to meet you." The other 4 suddenly appeared in their sub-armor   
  
and Raye said, "And arriving late are Celia, Lita, Michelle, and Alex. You guys, this is   
  
Heather."  
  
"This is all very well," Heather said, "but you should have not let your family unprotected.   
  
I could have taken care of this myself. I could have used my Life and Death Strike on him   
  
when necessary, like I did. But your families cannot protect themselves. We must hurry and   
  
find them. Let's pray we're not too late."  
  
"What to you mean Heather?" Ami asked, "What happened?" Ami always worried that her job as   
  
a warrior would someday get her mother hurt or worse.   
  
"I fear that the Negaverse created this youma as a distraction to get you away from you   
  
families so they could destroy them. We must hurry." She broke off in a run, now in her   
  
sub-armor, and the others followed.   
  
When they arrived at Serena's house, Serena burst into the house, and ran into the dining   
  
room. As she looked at the scene in front of her, tears welled up in her eyes and she let   
  
out a blood-curdling scream. She fell to her knees and started to cry. Ami, Mina, and Raye   
  
burst in and did the same thing. Their families were dead, their skins burned as if someone   
  
set flames to their bodies. Serena's parents and her brother, Ami's mother, Mina's parents,   
  
and Raye's grandfather were all lying down on the ground, burnt beyond healing.   
  
The others walked in and saw the sight that had brought the other four to tears. Steeling   
  
herself against the instinct to faint at the scene in front of her, Lita, who understood   
  
what Serena was going through, ran over to Serena and started consoling her, as Alex did for   
  
Mina, Michelle did for Ami, and Celia did for Raye. Heather bowed her head and said, "I am   
  
deeply sorry for the pain that this has cost you. I would heal them, but they are beyond   
  
healing." Serena stood up and said, "I'll heal them with my crystal. That'll bring them   
  
back."  
  
"Serena, I'm sorry, but they are beyond the healing power of your crystal," Heather said.   
  
Serena refused to listen to her and drew out her crystal and called out, "MOON HEALING   
  
ACTIVATION!" The crystal struggled to work, but nothing happened.   
  
Serena cut off the power, withdrew the crystal back inside her, and collapsed into Lita's   
  
arms and started crying again. Suddenly, Darien burst through the door, knowing that Serena   
  
was in pain, and said, "Where's Serena?" Lita handed Serena off into the security of   
  
Darien's arms. Lita looked at Darien and Serena and was shocked to find tears in Darien's   
  
eyes at the pain of his loved one. They really do love each other, don't they? She   
  
thought. I hope I find someone like that, she continued. Sighing, she detransformed   
  
and walked over to the phone regretfully and called the police.  
  
***  
  
When the police had come, all of the girls had detransformed out of their sub-armor and were   
  
in their regular clothes. The police questioned the girls about what they thought might   
  
have happened and they said that they didn't know and that they had gone out on a walk and   
  
when they returned, they found their families like this.   
  
After that had been cleared with the police, there was another matter that needed to be   
  
resolved. Their guardians, not expecting to die so soon, never made a plan for their   
  
children in the untimely event of their death before their oldest child was a legal adult.   
  
None of Mystical Warriors had any family left; Metallia and Beryl had killed them all. And   
  
since they were close enough to the age of 18, Serena, Ami, Mina, and Raye were free to go   
  
with anyone they wanted to. They were all talking with a lawyer in her office with Celia   
  
with them. Serena looked into the eyes of the lawyer and said, "I want to go with Celia."   
  
From the sound of Celia's gasp, she hadn't expected that.  
  
"I do too," Raye said.  
  
"Same here," the other two said. The lawyer looked at Celia, who was still shocked, and   
  
said, "Will you consent to be their legal guardian?"  
  
"Yes, I would be glad to."  
  
"Good, then sign here at the bottom of this sheet and it'll be official. These girls will   
  
be under your care for the next four years, until they turn 18." Celia walked up to the   
  
lawyer's desk and signed the contract after reading it over quickly. With it signed, the   
  
lawyer smiled at the 4 other girls tenderly and said, "There, now it's official. I'm so   
  
sorry for you loss. I hope you all feel better soon." The 4 stood up, giving their thanks   
  
to the lawyer, and quietly walked out of the office with Celia in tow.   
  
***  
  
Serena, Ami, Mina, Raye, and Lita stood in front of Celia's mansion, their stuff in hand.   
  
When Lita said that she was going to move into Celia's house as well, they others asked her   
  
why, saying that she had her own place. Lita said it was because they were all living with   
  
the other 4 and she would feel left out if she was the only one not living in that house, so   
  
she asked Celia if she could move in and Celia's answer was, "Sure, it's not like there's   
  
not enough room for you, or anything."   
  
Serena walked up to the door and rang the doorbell. After a few moments, Celia answered the   
  
door, breathless. When Serena looked at her funny, Celia said, "You run from the third   
  
story to the front door and we'll see if you not tired." The others laughed and Celia   
  
opened the door wider, spread her arms out wide and said, "Welcome to your new home." Raye,   
  
Serena, Ami, Lita, and Mina smiled and walked through the door, dragging all their stuff   
  
upstairs to their new rooms.   
  
***  
  
After everyone had moved in and figured out who got what room, they all settled down to   
  
dinner. Serena smiled at the memory of fighting over the bedrooms. Every two rooms had a   
  
bathroom connecting them. After a few rearrangements, Raye and Ami's room were connected by   
  
a bathroom, as were Mina and Lita's, Alex and Michelle's, and Heather and Celia's and Serena   
  
had a bathroom to her herself. Everyone slumped back into their chairs after a wonderful   
  
dinner of spaghetti and meatballs cooked by Lita. Serena looked around the grand dining   
  
room and said, "God Celia, you could fit another 15 people at this table. Why is it so   
  
big?"  
  
"I don't know why I got it so big. I just had this feeling that it would have to be really   
  
big for future uses. Oh, well, it's pretty." All of them laughed as Celia cryptically   
  
smiled, she had her reasons for everything, and began clearing the table. After all the   
  
dinner dishes were finished, all of them went up to their rooms and went to bed, happy that   
  
they weren't alone. 


	11. The Power of the Cosmos Revived

The Mystical Warriors, Part 11  
  
***The Power of THe Cosmos Revived***  
  
The Mystical Warriors sat in the family room on the third story of their house. But it  
  
wasn't a normal afternoon. . .   
  
"Why do we have to wait? The longer we wait, the more Queen Beryl can do to us!" Serena   
  
exclaimed. She was tired of being prey to Beryl's attacks; she wanted to get Beryl and stop   
  
the fighting.  
  
"Yeah," Lita said, "I say we charge in there and surprise-attack them!"  
  
"That's what I say," Alex said.  
  
"We can't just barge into the Negaverse without a plan! What happens if we open a portal to   
  
the Negaverse and we can't get ourselves back out again? What do we do then?" Raye asked.  
  
"Raye's right, we need some kind of a plan before we go into the Negaverse," Ami agreed. On   
  
cue, everybody started yelling and nobody could distinguish on person's words for another.   
  
"QUIET!" Celia yelled. Everybody shut up immediately and looked at Celia, guilty looks on  
  
all of their faces. Celia glared down at them, rising into a standing position. "I can't   
  
believe how immaturely you are going about this. I expected so much more of you. Now   
  
listen, we'll go about this calmly and collectively." Turning to Ami, she said, "Ami, where   
  
did you say the portal to the Negaverse was?"  
  
"It was, um, at the north end of the lake that's about a mile away from here."  
  
"Thank you, Ami. Now, I propose is we go to the portal tomorrow when it opens. . . it does   
  
open tomorrow, right Ami?"  
  
"Yes," she answered curtly.  
  
"Right, we go to the portal tomorrow and enter the Negaverse. You're lucky that Ami can   
  
sense where a portal is and when it'll open, otherwise, I wouldn't be suggesting that we do   
  
it this way. We'll go in, fight Beryl and if we don't win, then we hightail it out of   
  
there, regroup and try again later and if we win, then we come home and celebrate, right?"   
  
The rest of them nodded and Celia gave them a curt nod.   
  
"Good. I'm going to my room. I am not to be disturbed and I will see you tomorrow." The   
  
others dissipated. Raye went to go meditate, Serena went to sleep, Lita went to start on   
  
dinner, with Mina's help, Ami went to read, and Alex, Michelle, and Heather went to watch   
  
T.V., all of them trying not to think about entering the Negaverse the next day.  
  
***  
  
Despite all their nervousness, the Mystical Warriors slept relatively well that night. They   
  
all awoke at 7:00 the next morning and began to prepare for the journey into the Negaverse   
  
by eating breakfast. "Serena, slow down! You'll choke on your food and then we'll be with   
  
out a leader," Raye yelled at Serena.  
  
"I can't help it. Part of me knows that this might be my last meal, so my body wants to eat   
  
as much as possible. It's uncontrollable." Serena gobbled down another mouthful of   
  
pancakes. "Mmm, Lita the guy you marry better like food."  
  
"Why is that Serena?"  
  
"Because he won't be able to get enough of your cooking." All of them laughed, but the   
  
laughs were forced, not whole-hearted. After breakfast, they all transformed into their   
  
sub-armor and went outside to prepare for battle.   
  
First, they meditated for an hour and tried to clear their minds of all negative thoughts.   
  
Then, they spent a few hours training, warming up their bodies, and practicing fighting. By   
  
the time that they had everything ready to go, it was almost time for the portal to open.   
  
Transforming into their armor, they ran to the place where the portal was supposed to open.   
  
"How much more time until it opens, Ami?" Serena asked.  
  
"About 5 more minutes." They all waited in anxious silence for the portal to open.   
  
"I don't think the portal's going . . ." Serena started saying, half hoping that the portal   
  
wouldn't open up at all, when a harsh wind blew through the trees. In front of them, a   
  
small cyclone formed and a small black dot appeared. The black dot kept getting bigger   
  
until it was about portal that was about 7 feet tall. All of the Mystical Warriors felt a   
  
certain amount of fear and anxiety, but none of them moved. "So, uh, who's ready to go?"   
  
Serena asked.  
  
"I'm as ready as I'll ever be," Lita said.  
  
"If I'm not ready now, I won't be in a few minutes," Ami said. The others all agreed.   
  
Serena gulped and took a few steps forward. "I'm the leader, so I should be the first one   
  
to go through, right? Okay." She edged forward, staff in hand, toward the portal. The   
  
closer she got, the more courageous she got. She noticed that her crystal was glowing and   
  
she could feel the power of the crystal wash through her body, almost as if it was feeding   
  
her strength.   
  
She stopped an arm's length distance from the portal and tentatively, reached out to touch   
  
the black hole in front of her. When her fingertips disappeared into the black hole, she   
  
quickly pulled them out in fear. She didn't like the idea of disappearing inside that   
  
thing, but she knew she had to. Building up a little more courage, she slowly walked into   
  
the portal. As she was passing through the portal, she felt like the darkness was pushing   
  
all the air out of her lungs.   
  
When she finally made it through the portal, she drew in a deep breath and gasped at the   
  
dismal scene in front of her. The sky above her was black with purple-ish clouds swirling   
  
around the sky. Lightning lit up the sky and showed Serena a tall castle atop of a cliff   
  
that overlooked an ocean filled with dark water. Behind her, she heard the sounds of   
  
surprise and dismay of the Warriors first look of the land they were in right now. "So this   
  
is the Negaverse," Serena said, " I don't believe I've ever seen an uglier place. Ok, now   
  
we have to start towards that tower. Do you see it there?" She got a few scattered yes's.   
  
"Good, because I have a feeling that that's where Queen Beryl is. So, let's get started."   
  
Serena started to walk towards the tower and hurriedly, the others followed her.  
  
***  
  
"Queen Beryl." Queen Beryl looked down to see her head advisor kneeling before her.  
  
"Yes, what is it?"  
  
"The Mystical Warriors have entered the Negaverse." She smiled at the news. "Excellent.   
  
Prepare the torture chambers. We have guests."  
  
"Yes, my Queen."  
  
***  
  
"Kind of boring isn't it?" Raye asked as they walked along. Suddenly, Serena stopped. "I   
  
wouldn't say that if I were you, Raye," Serena said.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Look ahead." The rest of them looked ahead and saw an army of youma coming after them.   
  
Serena assumed the fighting position. "Ok, guys. Let's kick some Negaverse butt!"   
  
She charged forward towards the enemy. A youma holding a sword swung it at her, but Serena   
  
blocked it with her staff. Kicking the sword out of his hands, she picked it up and sliced   
  
him in two. "One down, a thousand to go." The Mystical Warriors fought long and hard, but   
  
eventually, Serena had enough physical fighting. "Ok you baddies, let's see how you like   
  
the power of my crystal! MOONLIGHT VANQUISH!" A bolt of light in the shape of a crescent   
  
moon came out of her crystal and cut through a quarter of the youmas attacking the Warriors.   
  
  
  
The others followed suit, using their attacks to kill youmas. Just when they thought they'd   
  
won, more youmas appeared from over the horizon. Within minutes, the youmas were attacking   
  
them again. Serena had had enough. She could feel her anger boiling inside of her, giving   
  
her power, more power than her armor could handle. But, she had a feeling that things would   
  
be ok. "This is it! I call upon the Armor of the Cosmos! Armor of the Cosmos, TO ARMS!"   
  
Suddenly, the others screamed out in pain as their powers fled them and poured into Serena's   
  
crystal, their power represented by the color of light flooding into the crystal. The   
  
crystal surrounded Serena in a bright light and she screamed out in pain.   
  
When the light faded, she was standing there in the Armor of the Cosmos. The white on her   
  
armor was now gold and her symbol was a 9-point star, a different color of someone's armor   
  
at each point. On her upper arms were extended shoulder plates that were connected to her   
  
armor, but not touching her and connected to her back were white, metallic wings that only   
  
added to the effect of the Armor of Cosmos.   
  
Everyone around them could feel the power radiating from Serena as she dug her staff into   
  
the ground and extracted the crystal from its place in the staff. With the crystal floating   
  
between her hands, she lifted her hands above her head. Light started to gather into the   
  
crystal and then she said, "SUPERNOVA STRIKE!" and the light inside the crystal exploded,   
  
killing everything evil within a mile radius.   
  
When the aftershock of the attack died down, the armor of the Cosmos faded, leaving Serena   
  
in her Moonlight armor and the powers of the other Warriors fled back to them. Serena   
  
collapsed down onto her knees and hands, breathing heavily. Her staff, which lay beside   
  
her, had the crystal back in it. The others stood up and went over to Serena. "Serena, are   
  
you ok?" Mina asked, reaching her first.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just need to catch my breath for a moment." A few seconds later, she   
  
stood up and picked up her staff and declared, "Let's keep going. I don't see any more   
  
youma. I think I killed them all."  
  
"That was amazing Serena," Raye said, walking up to Serena, "I have never seen so much power   
  
come from one person."  
  
"Thanks Raye. So it's called the Armor of the Cosmos. I like it." Serena shook her head;   
  
now was not the time to be chatting. "But enough talk, we have to get going. We're close   
  
to Beryl. I can feel her close. We can't stop now that we're this close." Serena started   
  
to walk again and wearily, the others followed.  
  
***  
  
"That's right. Come to me. I'll make sure you never get out of here alive. . . " Queen Beryl laughed softly as she cradled a large black crystal in her hands. "Oh yes. With the  
  
power of this crystal, I'll be able to defeat you once and for all." 


	12. The Final Battle Takes Place

Hey all, here's the last chapter! YAY! Hope everyone liked the first book. We'll update  
  
with the second book soon, hopefully. Anyhow, enjoy! ~DestinyBabe  
  
*Same Disclaimer*  
  
The Mystical Warriors, Part 12  
  
***The Final Battle Takes Place***  
  
Serena and the other 8 Mystical Warriors approached the doors to Beryl's castle cautiously.   
  
"Be careful you guys, she could have youmas placed to surprise us," Serena whispered,   
  
looking up at the castle that loomed over her.  
  
"Duh, Serena," Raye said. They stopped in front of the doors and looked up. The doors by   
  
themselves were about 20 feet tall with a picture of a skull inside a circle in the middle   
  
of the two doors.   
  
"Who wants to ring the doorbell?" Serena asked nervously, trying to make a joke to lighten   
  
the situation. She put her hand to the door and suddenly the doors slowly swung open on   
  
their own accord, like someone was expecting them. The thought of that scared the Mystical   
  
Warriors. "Well somebody must be home," Serena said as the walked into the castle.   
  
All of the sudden, they heard an evil laugh that rang through the castle. "Hello, Mystical   
  
Warriors. I hope you like my castle. You'll be staying here a long time. Long enough to   
  
die! If you can find your way to me, you can try and fight me, but I don't know how far   
  
you'll get. Good luck . . . " Queen Beryl's laugh still echoed throughout the castle,   
  
filling them with a sudden feeling of fear and panic. Serena stepped forward and said, "We   
  
have to find her. I guess that won't be too. . . AHHH!" In an instant, Serena was gone,   
  
disappeared. "SERENA!" they all called out. But, it was too late; she had disappeared.   
  
"Oh, I knew we never should have come here!" Michelle said, "It was foolish to risk our   
  
Princess's life like that. It should have been one of us instead."  
  
"Michelle, there's nothing you could have done. All we can do now is look for her," Alex   
  
said and they split up into groups of two to look for their lost leader.   
  
***  
  
Raye and Ami wandered down an empty corridor, looking for Serena. "Raye, do you think we'll   
  
find her?" Ami asked.  
  
"Yes, I do believe we'll find her."  
  
"Why?" Ami couldn't find it in herself to be optimistic at that moment.  
  
"Because good always conquers over evil in the end. And Serena will be found. She has to   
  
be."  
  
"Oh. Hey Raye, do you remember what we were talking about before Alex and Michelle showed   
  
up?"  
  
"Yeah, um, what was it? Oh yeah, 'King Sage' and 'King Rowen'. Yeah, see, I remember.   
  
What about them?"  
  
"Do you think they've been reborn?"  
  
"I don't know. What about you?"  
  
"I think they've been reborn. And I think we'll meet them in this lifetime."  
  
"I hope so."  
  
"Raye, what do you think 'King Sage' will look like?"  
  
"I honestly don't know what he'll look like. But I had this dream that I was with him, but   
  
I couldn't see him clearly. The only thing I could make out were his eyes."  
  
"And what did they look like?"  
  
"They were light purple, almost like a lavender color. They were very pretty."  
  
"Purple, like your eyes."  
  
"Yes, except mine are dark purple, kind of like the color of Heather's armor. You know Ami?   
  
I can't imagine you with anyone who doesn't have blue hair like yours."  
  
"Right, and where am I supposed to find a guy that has blue hair? I don't think that exists   
  
anywhere else but in me."  
  
"Maybe this 'King Rowen' has blue hair."  
  
"Sure, Raye, whatever you say. When that happens, I'll pay you 20 bucks. (AN: remember   
  
this bet :)"  
  
"Do you promise?"  
  
"Yes, I promise." Raye smiled mischievously and looked at Ami.  
  
"Good, because I think you just may meet a guy with blue hair. Just call it a feeling. But   
  
now we need to concentrate on finding Serena."  
  
"Right, Raye," Ami said, not believing Raye. And they searched the rest of the time in   
  
silence.  
  
***  
  
"Do you think we'll ever get out of here, Mina?" Lita asked as they turned a corner, finding   
  
themselves in another empty hallway.  
  
"Yeah, I hope so. There are too many things I want to do before I die, so we better get out   
  
of here."  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"Huh?" Mina asked.  
  
"What kind of things do you want to do before you die? Just to pass the time."  
  
"Well, I want to meet my soul mate and fall madly in love with him and get married. What   
  
about you, do you think you have a soul mate?"  
  
"Yes, I even know who he is, even though I've never met him."   
  
"Who is it? And how do you know who he is, even though you haven't met him?"  
  
"Ok, remember when Celia was explaining the story about the Ronin Warriors and she named off   
  
the 5 young kings?"  
  
"Um, yeah? What about it?"  
  
"Well, when she mentioned 'King Kento of the Hardrock', I got this tingle through out my   
  
body. It's like I knew that I would meet this guy. You must think that's silly."  
  
"Actually I had the same thing happen when she mentioned 'King Cye of the Torrent'. It's   
  
like I knew too. It's weird, huh?"  
  
"Yeah, all I can say is this 'King Kento' better like food, because that's my thing."  
  
"Lita, I'm sure he does." They walked for a few moments in silence before Lita said, "I   
  
want to get out of here."  
  
"So do I, but we have to find Serena. Who knows what could have happened to her."  
  
"I hate to think about what could have happened to her. She must be scared," Lita said.  
  
"Yeah, I hope she's alright." Then a worried silence fell over the two.  
  
***  
  
"Do you ever wish that you hadn't become a Mystical Warrior, Alex?" Michelle asked Alex as   
  
they took a break from searching the castle, both of them leaning against the walls of a   
  
hallway.  
  
"What? No. I like it. I like the action."  
  
"But did you ever stop to think of the damage we could do?"  
  
"Michelle, I think you worry too much."  
  
"I'm not worrying, just speculating."  
  
"Do you regret ever becoming a Mystical Warrior, Michelle?"  
  
"No, actually I don't. I like knowing that we can save people using our powers and that we   
  
destroy evil, making the world a safe place to live."  
  
"That sounded like an ending to a cheesy superhero show."  
  
"So what if it sounded cheesy? It's true! Don't you like saving the world from the forces   
  
of darkness?"  
  
"Yeah, I do. Hey Michelle, do you think we'll be able to save Serena?"  
  
"For the sake of this planet, I hope we do." Giving each other looks, they started walking   
  
again, searching for their fallen princess, knowing that if they didn't find her, that the   
  
world, even the universe, didn't have a chance.  
  
***  
  
"Come on, where is she?" Heather whined as she and Celia searched the castle.  
  
"Heather, calm down. We'll find her soon."  
  
"Celia, I can feel her pain. It's not physical. Or at least not yet. Her soul is in some   
  
kind of torment."  
  
"Well complaining won't let you help her any faster."  
  
"Why is it that you always treat me like a child? I may be 12, but I have the power to help   
  
people, heal people. If anything, I'm not a child," Heather said annoyed, scowling up at   
  
Celia, who wasn't looking at her. Celia turned around and gave Heather a stern look.  
  
"Because, when you pull temper-tantrums like that, you let everyone know how old you are.   
  
You may look older, but sometimes when you speak, you let everyone know you're not as old as   
  
you look."  
  
"Yeah, but I still wish you wouldn't treat me like a child"  
  
"I only treat you like what you are. The older you get, the more I'll treat you like an   
  
adult."  
  
***  
  
Serena woke up in a cold, dark room on her stomach. In her right hand was her staff. She   
  
groaned as she slowly sat up. Her head felt like it was going to explode and she felt like   
  
she could sleep for a month. "So, you finally decided to wake up. I was wondering if I was   
  
going to have to do it myself."  
  
"What do you want Beryl?" Serena had never seen Beryl, but she knew that the woman standing   
  
in front of her with fiery red hair and an evil smirk was indeed the queen of the Negaverse   
  
that they had been fighting.  
  
"Your life of course. Now, SHUT UP!" Serena screamed as energy flooded through her body.   
  
It felt like every nerve in her body was on fire and she couldn't breathe; it was like her   
  
body wouldn't listen to her and would only concentrate on the pain. When the torture   
  
stopped, she was holding her arm to her stomach, trying desperately to breathe. Queen Beryl   
  
walked up to her and said, "Had enough? Well too bad!" Serena only had enough time to take   
  
a deep breath before she screamed once more as the pain flooded her body again.  
  
***  
  
Raye and Ami were walking along when suddenly they heard a distant scream. They looked at   
  
each other and whispered, "Serena!" both of them knowing that the scream came from Serena.  
  
"We have to do something, Raye!"  
  
"I know Ami, but what can we do to help her? I don't think we can get to her in time."  
  
"We can send her our power to help her make the armor of the Cosmos, okay?" The Mystical   
  
Warriors all agreed that in the event that something should happen, that they were give   
  
their power to Serena to form the Armor of the Cosmos. Raye and Ami figured that if they   
  
could hear the scream, then everyone else could too and they would send their power to   
  
Serena as well.   
  
"Right." Raye and Ami centered themselves and sent their power to Serena, hoping that it   
  
would get to her time.  
  
***  
  
When Serena's scream reached Lita and Mina, Lita was so mad that she punched the corridor   
  
wall. "We need to find her!" Lita exclaimed.  
  
"But we don't know how to get her, Lita!"  
  
"Then what do we do?"  
  
"I think that we should give her our power to make the armor of the Cosmos."  
  
"That's a great idea!" Mina and Lita concentrated and sent their power to Serena, feeling a   
  
loss as their power left them.   
  
***  
  
Serena's scream reached Michelle and Alex and Michelle gasped. "Michelle, we have to   
  
something! That was Serena!" Alex yelled.  
  
"I know, but there's no way to find her or get to her, but I know what we can do."  
  
"What?"  
  
"We can send her our power so she can make the Armor of the Cosmos."  
  
"Ok, I'll do it," Alex said, ready to give up her power for Serena. Michelle and Alex   
  
calmed down and gave up their power for Serena, silently praying for her safety.  
  
***  
  
Heather felt Serena's pain, even before she heard the scream. "Celia! They're hurting   
  
her!"  
  
"Who's hurting Serena, Heather!" Celia demanded; she needed to know what was happening to   
  
Serena.  
  
"Queen Beryl! She's torturing her! We have to help her."  
  
"Calm down. Let's send her the power of our armors." Heather nodded and together, they let   
  
their powers go so they could aid Serena. "Let's just hope that the others did the same   
  
thing," Celia said sadly.  
  
***  
  
Serena felt the pain stop for a second time and spent her time during the absence of pain   
  
trying to breathe. "I hope you're enjoying this as much as I am. I… What?" Beryl stopped   
  
speaking as different colored lights flew into Serena's crystal and engulfed her in a ball   
  
of light. "What's going on?" Beryl asked sounding almost scared. The light faded and   
  
Serena was there in front of her, standing up, and wearing the armor of the Cosmos.   
  
When Serena felt the power of her friends rush into her, she couldn't have been more   
  
relieved. The power of the Armor of the Cosmos rejuvenated her and made her feel strong   
  
again. She picked up her staff and looked Beryl straight in the eye. "You are going to   
  
die, you bitch!" Serena stood the staff on the ground and extracted the crystal out of it's   
  
holding. Light began to gather inside of it as she raised her arms above her head, the   
  
crystal floating between her two hands.   
  
The light that had gathered inside the crystal shot towards Beryl, surrounding her in a ball   
  
of light, steadily growing brighter and brighter. Serena suddenly cried "SUPERNOVA STRIKE!"   
  
and the light surrounding Queen Beryl exploded, killing Beryl instantly, and destroying the   
  
castle as well. Beryl never even had time to scream. When the light died down, there was   
  
nothing left but rubble. Serena stood there, breathing heavily. "I got you. I finally got   
  
you. And now, it's over," she said weakly. Then suddenly, everything went black.  
  
***  
  
Serena woke up in her bed in Celia's house. As soon as she opened her eyes, she found 8   
  
very worried people hovering over her. Her eyes opened wide and she shot up, only to   
  
realize that her head hurt and she had to lie back down again. "What happened? Why am I   
  
back at home?" she croaked. Her voice sounded like it hadn't been used in a week. "Take it   
  
easy, you've been sleeping for three days," Raye said.  
  
"Yeah, I guess using the armor of the Cosmos twice in one day was too much for you, huh?"   
  
Lita said.  
  
"You mean, I've been sleeping for three days? How did I get back here?"  
  
"Well," Celia started, "After you used you power on Beryl and destroyed the castle, all we   
  
had to do to find you was walk in the direction of the light that destroyed the castle. We   
  
all found you at about the same time. You were in your sub-armor and you had fainted. Ami   
  
easily found another portal back into our world and we all took turns carrying you back. It   
  
only took us a few hours to get back.   
  
"When we arrived home, we put you straight to bed, even though we couldn't get you to   
  
detransform out of your sub-armor. You've been sleeping for three days and now you're   
  
awake. You must be hungry and thirsty. Let me go get you something to eat. I'll be right   
  
back." The other girls talked to her while Celia went and got her food. When Celia came   
  
back she shooed everyone out, saying that Serena needed her rest. Serena smiled at Celia as   
  
she closed the door behind her. Looking at the tray of food Celia brought her, Serena   
  
gobbled it down without even tasting it. She laid herself back down on her pillow and fell   
  
promptly asleep, happy to still be alive. 


	13. Epilogue

Hi again! This chapter is a mixture, really, of an epilogue to "The Mystical Warriors"  
  
and a prologue to the next book in our saga, "The Armors United." I hope this inspires  
  
you to read the next book of our epic! And I know its silly and everything to say this,  
  
BUT .... if you liked this story, please review! We appreciate any and all criticisms   
  
and comments. Thanks and Enjoy! - Destiny Babe   
  
*Epilogue -A Week After Serena's Battle With Beryl *  
  
In a city not so far away from the one the Mystical Warriors lived in, night ruled the sky.   
  
The stars and moon shone down on a house in the middle of the woods, the occupants fast   
  
asleep. Just finishing up a long battle, 5 boys, a young woman, and a large, white tiger   
  
slumbered peacefully as the night continued. Well, not quite so peacefully. As they slept,  
  
the five young warriors were haunted by dreams of a time and place that would be coming   
  
upon them in the not so distant future . . .   
  
***  
  
As Cye slept in the room that he shared with Kento, he tossed in his bed slightly, the bed   
  
sheet wrapping around his body, his comforter thrown off the bed. He was in the middle of  
  
a dream that would reveal to him the future, but answer no questions.   
  
In his dream, he ran along the ocean's shore in the middle of the night, trying to reach the   
  
small beacon of light that called to him. He didn't know what it was exactly, but he was   
  
going to find out. He ran until he was breathless, but still, he couldn't reach the light.   
  
He slowed to a stop and his body slumped over with exhaustion, falling to his knees. "Come  
  
to me, Cye of the Torrent. Find me," a voice called. Cye's head snapped up and he looked   
  
around his surroundings. "How can I find you if I can't reach you?" he yelled, frustrated.  
  
"Now, now. There's no need to get angry. You've found me." Cye looked straight ahead of  
  
him and his breath caught in his throat. Although he couldn't see her clearly, the young   
  
woman who stood in front of him he knew to be beautiful. "Who-who are you?" he asked   
  
breathlessly. She stood with her back to him, wearing a long gown that blew in the wind.   
  
He squinted to identify the color and when the light of the moon hit it, he found it to be  
  
a pale orange color. Her long hair whipped around her as the wind continued to blow and   
  
when she turned her head to look at him over her shoulder, her face was masked by shadows,   
  
but from those shadows, he could see one sparkling azure eye with startling clarity. "You   
  
don't need to know that," she answered.  
  
"Why not?" he questioned.  
  
"You will find out in time."  
  
"Then why are you in my dreams?"  
  
"Because I wanted to see you."  
  
"Why did you want to see me?" Cye asked. He was getting annoyed with the mysterious  
  
answers.  
  
"Why wouldn't I want to see my true love?"  
  
"Wait, what did you say?" Cye asked, a little confused. He was her true love?  
  
"You heard what I said."  
  
"Then who are you?"  
  
"I'm not a person."  
  
"Then what are you?"  
  
"I'm my princess' sub-consciousness. She doesn't know that you exist. . ."  
  
"But then why . . ."  
  
"For the moment she doesn't. She will find out with time. And so will you. She may not   
  
know you exist, but I do and I had to see you. It's been so long . . . " The young  
  
woman's voice filled with sorrow and Cye became concerned. "Been so long since what?" he  
  
asked. He could hear the smile in her voice as she answered his question. "We were lovers  
  
in the past. During the Silver Millennium."  
  
"The what?" Cye asked. What the heck was the Silver Millennium?  
  
It was a period of time when the moon ruled the Solar System and . . . Oh, my. I've told you too much." The woman turned around and walked over to him. For the first time, Cye   
  
saw how beautiful she really was. She was the epitome of beautiful. There were no words  
  
to describe her.   
  
Shakily, Cye raised a hand, feeling daring, and cupped her cheek, caressing the skin of her  
  
face with his thumb. She leaned into his touch, letting out a small moan, before pulling   
  
away from his hand. Without warning, she gave him a quick, but passionate, kiss. Cye   
  
barely had time to respond before she pulled away. Taking a step back, she began to fade.   
  
"We will meet again, Cye of the Torrent." She disappeared right in front of his face,   
  
leaving Cye gaping like an idiot. He stood there on the beach in his dream alone before he   
  
woke up, shooting up into a sitting position.   
  
His eyes darted around the room before resting on Kento's bed across the room. He wasn't in   
  
his bed, but it looked like it had just been slept in. He probably went to go get a   
  
midnight snack, Cye thought sleepily, his dream slowly being forgotten. All he could   
  
remember was that the girl in his dream was beyond beautiful. Turning on his light, he   
  
pulled out a piece of paper and a pen, setting them down on his bedside table, and wrote   
  
down what he remembered from his dream, which wasn't much. Most of what he wrote consisted   
  
of what she looked like.   
  
Reading over what he wrote, he sighed. He put the paper in the drawer by his bed and turned   
  
off the light, swearing that the next time he had that dream he would write more about it.   
  
Shaking his head, he settled back into bed and quickly fell asleep.  
  
***  
  
Cye wasn't the only one who had a strange dream. Not moments before, Kento had been   
  
dreaming as well. But instead of searching around a shore, Kento was in a forest. And he   
  
wasn't looking for a light. He was just walking through the forest in the dead of the   
  
night, trying to figure out why he was even there in the first place, with only the moon to   
  
illuminate his path.   
  
Figuring he was lost in the forest, Kento came to a large clearing and leaned against one of   
  
the trees that formed the perimeter. Taking a deep breath, he called out, "Anyone out   
  
there?" Getting no response, he looked around the trees with a calculating glare, trying to   
  
find some signs of life besides the trees and plants around him. "Hello there," a female   
  
voice purred. Kento pushed himself off the tree he was leaning on and assumed a defensive   
  
fighting position. "Who's there?" he asked, his gaze settling on the figure that the voice   
  
came from.   
  
He could only see the outline of her body, but she looked to be tall, almost as tall as his  
  
5'10", with a gorgeous body. His eyes widened in appreciation for a brief moment before   
  
narrowing in suspicion. He'd been played over for a fool one too many times in the last   
  
year or so for him to believe that it wasn't a trick. As if she had read his mind, she   
  
said, "Don't be suspicious, Kento of Hardrock. I'm not here to hurt you." Becoming even   
  
more suspicious at the knowledge that she knew his name and that he was a Ronin Warrior, he   
  
said, "Who are you?" She giggled slightly before disappearing.   
  
Kento relaxed his body, confusion taking over his face, before he felt a warm breath tickle   
  
his ear and heard, "Your greatest fantasy." Kento jumped to the side slightly and turned to   
  
come face to face with the most beautiful green eyes he had ever seen. His breath caught in   
  
his throat as he studied the goddess in front of him. She had long hair that ended about   
  
mid-back, from what he could tell, and she was practically as tall as he was. "That doesn't   
  
answer my question," Kento said in a shaky voice.   
  
The girl advanced towards him slowly, causing Kento to back up with each step she took   
  
towards him until he felt his back hit a tree and he knew he couldn't go any farther. But   
  
that didn't stop her from coming closer. She stopped walking when their toes were touching   
  
and then proceeded to walk her fingers up his chest. "Well, what do you want me to say?"   
  
she asked coyly, her fingers reaching his collarbone. "Do you want me to say that I'm the   
  
sub-conscious of your past lover?"  
  
"What?" he asked incredulously.  
  
"I knew you wouldn't believe me if I told you that."  
  
"No, but I might believe you if you explained what you meant," Kento said in a shaky voice  
  
as her fingers traced invisible patterns on his cheek, causing him to shiver.   
  
"Do you really want me to explain?" she asked.  
  
"Yeah, um, I-I guess so."  
  
"Well, a thousand years, there was something called the Silver Millennium. I was a part of   
  
it, well, at least my body was, and so were you. We were secret lovers. No one knew. It   
  
was just us. And we were good together. Like we would be now."  
  
"Are you alive now?" Kento asked, nervously.  
  
"Yes, but she doesn't know you're alive."  
  
"Who's 'she'?"  
  
"She's the person I belong to. When you two meet . . . " She paused to let out a small   
  
moan then leaned in to whisper in his ear again. "The chemistry between you two will be   
  
explosive." She nipped his ear lightly before pulling away and facing him again.  
  
"We'll meet?" Kento asked.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"When?" Kento wanted to know. If the real person looked anything like this girl did, he  
  
would be a goner.  
  
"I can't tell you. That's for me to know and you to find out."  
  
"Are you always this . . . this . . ."  
  
"Mysterious?" she supplied, "Yes, I am. I'd like to think it's part of my charm." She   
  
paused to just look at him and shook her head regretfully. "It's time for me to go. I'll   
  
see you again someday." She started to push away from him, but stopped. "But, before I   
  
do. . ." she said before kissing him. Kento, although shocked at first, kissed her back   
  
whole-heartedly. He tangled his fingers in her hair as the two of them kissed and was   
  
shocked and disappointed when she pulled away suddenly. "Sorry," she stated, "I just had to   
  
taste you again. It's been so long. . . I will see you in the future. You can bet on it." She   
  
took a few steps away from him before fading into the darkness. Kento just stood there,   
  
shocked, as the world around him faded and he drifted back into consciousness.   
  
In the real world, Kento opened his eyes and sat up in bed. He turned his head to see Cye   
  
still sleeping in his bed across the room. Kento smiled at his sleeping friend and slowly,   
  
raised his hand to touch his lips, which were still tingling. Although the dream hadn't   
  
been real, it felt as though it had and Kento could still feel her lips on his, whoever she   
  
was. All he knew was, as the dream faded from memory, he would never forget her and he   
  
could never be with anyone else but her. His fingers still at his lips, he shook his head   
  
and laughed when his stomach growled. Well, I guess it's time for a midnight snack.   
  
Moving quietly, so as not to wake Cye, Kento made his way down to the kitchen.  
  
***  
  
In another part of the house, yet another member of the Ronin Warriors dreamt. Rowen of the   
  
Strata shivered in his sleep. Although it wasn't cold in the house, it was cold in his   
  
dream. In his dream, he was wandering through a cave formed out of ice. He wasn't   
  
physically cold, but the thought of so much ice made him shiver involuntarily.   
  
As he wandered the cave, his feet hitting the frozen floor, he wondered why he didn't slip   
  
and skid on the ice underfoot. He should be moving at a slow pace, trying to maintain his   
  
balance, but as he walked his normal pace, not once did he slip or lose his balance.   
  
Certain that he wasn't going to fall, Rowen raised his head to look around the cave and   
  
gasped as he did. The cave was stunningly beautiful. The walls of the cave seemed to shine   
  
with an inner light and it made the ice that had formed the wall shine and shimmer. As he   
  
walked on, Rowen could see ripples of light move across the ice, creating an effect that was   
  
almost dizzying. His mouth had long ago dropped open with awe and wonderment at cave and   
  
although he wasn't cold, Rowen could see his breath in front of his face as the warm air of   
  
his breath met the cold air of the cave and condensed.   
  
Rowen followed the natural path that the cave laid out for him, he didn't find any forks in   
  
the road, and was surprised when the cave's opening appeared in front of him. He found that   
  
he was breathless as his gaze rested on the night sky, a black expanse alight with millions   
  
of twinkling stars, each one calling out to Rowen with its unique call. He stepped out of   
  
the cave and closed his eyes, allowing each of the stars' calls to reach his ears and fill   
  
his senses. He must have stood there for what seemed like hours, listening to the stars,   
  
before he opened his eyes. And when he did, he received quite a shock.   
  
Standing in front of him, at the edge of a cliff, was a young woman wearing a long, pale   
  
blue dress. He was looking at her from an angle as she stared out into the night sky. "I   
  
was wondering when you were going to realize I was here," she said in a gentle, yet mocking   
  
voice.  
  
"How did you know I was here?" Rowen asked, blown away by the ethereal beauty of the woman   
  
standing in front of him. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and Rowen noticed that   
  
her slightly-shorter-than-shoulder-length hair was a slightly lighter blue, if not the same   
  
color, than his. But, however beautiful she may be, she still hadn't answered his question   
  
and when he opened his mouth to speak, she turned to look at him. Rowen abruptly closed his   
  
mouth, his eyes wide with awe and reverence. She was more beautiful than he originally   
  
thought. "Who-who are you?" he asked.  
  
"I'm someone you will meet in the near future."  
  
"How near?"  
  
"Near enough," she said mysteriously. Rowen's brow furrowed in confusion, but he let the   
  
ambiguous remark slide. "Why are you here? Doesn't the cold bother you?" he asked.  
  
"The cold doesn't bother me. I'm used to it. Besides, the night sky is so lovely up here."  
  
"Yes, it is." The girl giggled and said, "You always loved the night sky with all the   
  
stars."  
  
"Wha..?"  
  
"Yes, I remember we used to sit outside together and name all the constellations we could,   
  
which were many."  
  
"Wait, I've never met you before."  
  
"Oh, you have. You just don't know it."  
  
"What do you mean?" The girl sighed with annoyance. "You don't remember, do you?"  
  
"Remember what?" Rowen asked.  
  
"The Silver Millennium and the Moon Kingdom."  
  
"No, I don't. Why don't you tell me?"  
  
"I can't."  
  
"Why not."  
  
"Because if you don't know on your own, then I can't be the one to tell you, so please,   
  
don't ask me to tell you."  
  
"Alright, I won't."  
  
"Thank you," she said before walking towards him. As she approached him, he saw how much   
  
shorter she was than him. He was a good 6 inches taller than her, at least, which would   
  
make her about 5'5" or so to his 5'11". She looked up at him and touched his cheek with her   
  
fingers, the look on her face almost as if she was remembering. She smiled and said,   
  
"You're still as gorgeous as ever."   
  
As she looked at him, Rowen got the sense that although he didn't know who the beauty   
  
standing in front of him was, she sure knew who he was and whatever they had in what she   
  
called "the Silver Millennium", it was something special to her. So, Rowen let her touch   
  
him and stayed content to just look at her. He had to admit that he was more than slightly   
  
attracted to her. He could picture himself falling madly in love with the girl standing in   
  
front of him. As he stared at her, a thought occurred to him and he had to ask her, "What's   
  
your name?"  
  
"That, I cannot tell you," she said, her voice as crisp as the air surrounding them.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"I just can't."  
  
"That's not an answer."  
  
"Well, it'll have to be good enough for you. For the moment anyway."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"You will meet me. I can guarantee that much."  
  
"Well, if you say so," Rowen said with a slight edge to his voice. While his tone meant to   
  
hurt, she laughed slightly. "And you still have that attitude of yours. Good. Keep it.   
  
It always made life interesting. And, as much as I love looking at you, I'm afraid I have   
  
to go."  
  
"Go? What do you mean 'go'?"  
  
"It's time for this meeting to end. And so, I leave you with a promise for the future and   
  
this parting gift." Standing on her toes, she gave him a quick kiss on the lips. The   
  
simplicity of the kiss made Rowen shiver with the depth of emotion he felt for the girl in   
  
front of him, though he had just met her minutes before. The kiss was over as soon as it   
  
had begun and she backed away from him. "Remember, I always have and always will love you,   
  
Rowen of the Strata." With that, she faded from view, leaving Rowen alone with the night   
  
sky and the stars that adorned it. Rowen looked at the spot the girl had just occupied for   
  
several moments before closing his eyes and letting the world fade around him.   
  
Rowen woke up with a start and shivered a little, the feelings and emotions from the dream   
  
not completely wiped from his memory. Though he didn't doubt that he would remember the   
  
dream for some time. Rolling over on his side, he looked at the clock on his bedside table.   
  
It was 2:37 in the morning. He took one envious look at Sage, who was sleeping peacefully   
  
in the other bed, and groaned before rolling back over and pulling the covers over his body.   
  
As he got comfortable, he started to drift off to sleep, his thoughts still on the girl he   
  
met in his dreams, a girl he would never forget.  
  
***  
  
Sage, needless to say, was not sleeping as peaceful as Rowen thought. Sage had an uncanny   
  
ability to appear calm externally, even in his sleep, while be not so calm inside. And   
  
right now, he was displaying that ability. He, too, was dreaming of a girl that he would   
  
meet in the somewhat near future, but he didn't know that yet.   
  
In the beginning of his dream, he was wandering through a cave that was much like the one   
  
where his armor originated. As he wandered through the cave, he remarked on the absence of   
  
light, which made sense because he was in a cave, except for one spot. From where Sage was   
  
standing, he could see a spot in the huge cave where light was shining on a wall. Figuring   
  
there was a side cavern, he slowly made his way over to the small cavern, carefully trying   
  
to avoid the stalagmites that littered the ground of the cave.   
  
As he neared the small cavern, he noticed two things. One was that the closer he got, the   
  
brighter the light got and the other thing was that it got warmer the closer he got. He   
  
approached the entrance to the cavern and peered inside. Inside the cavern was a large fire   
  
that burned so high it hit the ceiling. Sage stood gaping at the size of the fire and   
  
against his better judgment, he entered the cavern. He circled the fire for reasons unknown   
  
to him, maybe looking for a reason for the fire, and stopped suddenly when his eye caught   
  
something up in the fire.   
  
Up towards the ceiling in the center of the fire, something black caught his eye. He moved   
  
around to the other side of the fire to get a better look at what it was and gasped when his   
  
eyes focused on the face of a young woman who was floating in the fire. His gasp echoed   
  
throughout the cavern and the young woman looked down and opened her eyes to reveal a pair   
  
of startling violet eyes staring right into Sage's own lavender eyes. As her eyes fixed on   
  
him, they lit up with excitement and joy. She came gently down into the center of the fire   
  
and stepped out. To Sage's surprise, her skin was free of burns and unhurt. As he wondered   
  
how that could be, she approached him with a smile on her face. "I've been waiting for you   
  
to come. Where have you been?" she asked. Sage looked down at her, she was a good deal   
  
shorter than his height of 6'0", at least 5 inches shorter.   
  
"You were . . . expecting me? Who are you?" he asked as her face fell, obviously from   
  
disappointment.  
  
"Oh, so you don't remember. And here I was thinking that you did."  
  
"What don't I remember?" Sage inquired, wondering at why his not remembering something had disappointed her. If it was remembering her, he could have pegged himself as an idiot   
  
because one did not forget someone as beautiful as the girl that stood in front of him.  
  
The girl continued on as if Sage had never spoken.  
  
"Of course, how foolish of me to expect you to remember something that the princess doesn't   
  
even remember."  
  
"The princess?" Sage said.  
  
"Yes, the person that I belong to. You see I'm not a real person. I'm only the   
  
sub-conscious of a princess who was once in love with you."  
  
"Do you look anything like the real person?" Sage asked; he just had to know. The girl   
  
shook her head with laughter and answered, "There's the person I remember, always keeping an   
  
eye out for pretty girls. To answer your question, however, I look exactly like the real   
  
person." Sage then let loose a wide grin and responded with, "Good. Are you alive now and   
  
will I meet you?"  
  
"Yes, I'm alive now and you will meet me, though I can't say when. I'm not allowed to."  
  
"Oh, why not?" Sage whined.  
  
"Because, it would mess up the future. You're not supposed to know your own future, but you   
  
will meet me. Be happy with that answer."  
  
"I'll try," Sage resigned.  
  
"That's good enough for me," the girl quipped.  
  
"Can you at least tell me your name?"  
  
"I can't do that either, so don't ask it again."  
  
"Alright, but explain something to me. How do I know you and what am I supposed to   
  
remember?"  
  
"Well, to make a long story short, you were once part of something called the Silver   
  
Millennium and you were in love with my princess and she loved you back. It was a secret   
  
love affair because no one was supposed to know about it. And no one did."  
  
"Wow, how long ago was this?"  
  
"About a thousand years ago."  
  
"I was alive a thousand years ago?"   
  
"You and the other Ronin Warriors were. Your souls have been reincarnated so you could   
  
protect the world in this time as is your love's."  
  
"That's really intense," Sage said.  
  
"Yes, I know that it's a lot of information to take in, but odds are you won't remember any  
  
of this when you wake up."  
  
"I'm dreaming?"  
  
"You sure are and your time here is about to end. You're starting to wake up. But, before  
  
you go, I'd like to give you something."  
  
"Sure, what is it?" Sage asked innocently. She smirked at him and moved closer. "This,"   
  
she said before rising on her toes and kissing him square on the lips. Sage's eyes widened   
  
in surprise and shock before he began kissing her back. As they kissed, Sage could feel a   
  
certain familiarity, like he had kissed her before and he was convinced that she was telling   
  
the truth about them being involved in what she called the Silver Millennium.   
  
When she pulled away unexpectedly, Sage was disappointed, thinking that the kiss had ended   
  
too soon. Sage opened his eyes to see the girl looking up at him with a half-smile on her   
  
face. "That was just a preview for what is to come, Sage of the Halo. Until we meet   
  
again." She smiled at him even wider as she started to fade away. He swore he saw her wink   
  
at him before she disappeared completely, but he wasn't sure if it were real or if it were a   
  
figment of his imagination. As he looked around the cavern, he could feel the room get a   
  
little colder and the fire die down a bit, as if the girl had an affect on the fire and now   
  
that she was gone, the fire would slowly disappear. But Sage would never figure it out as   
  
the cavern and fire faded and a bright white light took over his senses as the dream   
  
disappeared.   
  
In the real world, Sage jolted awake, his eyes adjusting to the lack of light in the room.   
  
As he lay in his bed, he tried to concentrate on the dream that he just had, but the dream   
  
was quickly fading from his memory. He struggled to remember, but the dream kept evading   
  
him. After a while, he gave up and went back to sleep, his mind still trying to figure out   
  
the dream, but it was hopeless. Although he tried hard to remember, but by the time he   
  
drifted off to sleep, the dream was forgotten.   
  
***  
  
There was yet one more person who was dreaming in the same house. Ryo of the Wildfire was   
  
also dreaming, but not of a past love, of a cousin. Ryo of the Wildfire was wandering   
  
through the remains of an old castle. He moved through a large hallway and into a large   
  
room, which probably was used as a ballroom. Natural light was shining on the floor of the   
  
ballroom, coming from the ceiling and Ryo looked up, preparing to see the moon, and received   
  
quite a shock when instead, he saw the Earth hovering in the sky.   
  
He stood there, gaping at the sky like an idiot, until he was shaken out of his thoughts by   
  
a voice. "It's lovely from here, isn't it?" Ryo jumped slightly, not prepared for the   
  
female voice that had spoken to him. He turned his head, and later his body, to see a young   
  
woman, perhaps about the same age as he was, descending a wide flight of stairs.   
  
The young woman was beautiful, devastatingly so, but Ryo wasn't physically attracted to her,   
  
though he did love her immediately. As he saw her, there was something about her that made   
  
him instinctively love her, want to protect her from any harm, like a brother would for a   
  
younger sister. Ryo knew that if he didn't feel this brotherly love for the young woman   
  
(and if he weren't already in love with Mia), then he would be attracted to her slim figure,   
  
her sparkling blue eyes, and her long blonde hair, which had been pulled in to a familiar   
  
looking style that consisted of two "meatballs" with long, blonde pigtails streaming out of   
  
them. "Excuse me?" Ryo said, shaking out his stupor.  
  
"I said, it's lovely from up here," she murmured.  
  
"What?" he asked, totally forgetting to what she was referring.  
  
"The earth, you silly," she said jokingly, though the way she said "earth" conveyed a deep   
  
longing for that planet, or something on it, at least.  
  
"Yeah, I never knew it looked like that," Ryo said, letting his gaze flicker back to the   
  
earth that sat up high in space. "Where are we?" Ryo asked.  
  
"We're on the moon, my dear cousin," she replied, walking the rest of the distance between   
  
them and standing next to him.   
  
"The moon," he repeated slowly, as if he couldn't understand the fact that he was standing on the Earth's sole satellite.  
  
"Exactly," she said pertly. She removed her eyes from the Earth and turned to look at Ryo,   
  
though Ryo wasn't watching her; he was mesmerized by the Earth and the way it floated in   
  
space, the way planets tended to. He'd seen pictures of the planets from space, but really   
  
seeing it was mind-blowing. The pictures couldn't make him feel as breathless as he was;   
  
the pictures couldn't overwhelm him with the realization of the size of the earth and the   
  
sheer distance from him to his home. He had never felt so detached from life before; he had   
  
never felt so small, so helpless, so insignificant.   
  
He was so deep in his reverie that he had long forgotten the young woman's presence until   
  
she made herself known again by throwing her arms around him and hugging him tightly in joy   
  
and desperation, as if she was never going to see him again. His attentions now focused on   
  
her, he could feel her body shake with light sobs and he wrapped his arms around her to   
  
comfort her, which only made her cry harder. "What's wrong?" he whispered as his fingers   
  
sifted through one pigtail of what felt like pure silk. With a voice choked by tears, she   
  
managed to say, "I missed you."  
  
"Who are you?" Ryo asked, his heart falling down to somewhere around his toes for not   
  
remembering this girl when she obviously remembered him. Her body stiffened as she abruptly   
  
stopped crying and pulled away, looking at him with a face full with shock and   
  
disappointment. "You mean . . . you don't remember?" she asked, her voice small and meek.  
  
"No, I'm sorry. I wish I did, but I don't. Could you tell me what you're talking about?"  
  
"We're cousins. Or, we were. Back in the Silver Millennium, during the time of the Moon   
  
Kingdom, we were cousins. You used to come visit me all the time on the moon, where I would   
  
beg you to tell me stories of Earth, a place I longed to go and a place where my true love   
  
came from. But, if you don't remember, I cannot tell you anymore than that for you are   
  
supposed to gain your memories of this time back in your own time and from your own   
  
experiences. I cannot be the one to tell you. And, if you don't remember, then there is no   
  
point in your being here, Ryo of the Wildfire."  
  
"How did you . . . ?"  
  
"I know everything about you. I'm your cousin. It's my right," she said, answering his   
  
question before he even finished asking it. As he stood there, overwhelmed by what she knew   
  
of his other identity, she took a few steps back, putting distance between the two of them,  
  
her blue eyes sparkling with sadness and regret. Then, she started to fade, her body   
  
becoming less and less clear as the world around Ryo turned white. "We will meet again, my   
  
dear cousin," the young woman said before fading completely as Ryo's world turned totally   
  
white, bringing him back into a state of consciousness.   
  
In the real world, back on Earth, Ryo's eyes shot open as he was shaken from his slumber by   
  
a dream. To his left, he could hear the sounds of White Blaze, sleeping peacefully, purring   
  
in his sleep. To his right, he could hear the sounds of crickets chirping in the bushes   
  
coming in through his open window. He turned his head to look through his window and   
  
his eyes caught the moon, shining full and bright in a sky that was littered with thousands   
  
of sparkling stars, and he remembered the girl, his cousin, his family.   
  
The thought of family brought tears to Ryo's eyes. His mother was dead and his father   
  
had been missing for years, having gotten lost in the jungle in Africa. Ryo didn't know if   
  
he was alive or dead, but he'd been without his father since he was 7 and now that he was   
  
15, the thought of family was emotionally paralyzing. He knew that she would stay true   
  
to her words, whoever she was, about meeting him again and when they met, he would   
  
know the meaning of true family. A smile forming on his face, he closed his eyes and   
  
fell back asleep.  
  
***  
  
All five warriors dreamed of a beautiful girl, each one different. Each girl held promises   
  
for the future, but they would never be remembered. Over time, the dream would fade   
  
and become a distant memory, eventually being completely forgotten. When the warriors   
  
would meet the girls from their dreams, they would feel a flicker of recognition, a sense   
  
of déjà vu you could call it. Although the dream would disappear from memory, time   
  
would not erase the needy feeling inside of the warriors, the need to meet these young   
  
women because inside, the warriors knew that these were girls they would spend the rest   
  
of their lives with once they met them. They just had to find them. Time passed and that   
  
need grew, but the warriors didn't know what that need was. Until one day, lo and   
  
behold, the young woman who owned the house they lived in met one of the girls the   
  
guys dreamt about and that day, their lives changed inexorably. 


End file.
